Lando Norris clinched pole place on Saturday for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix forward of teammate Oscar Piastri as McLaren fired a warning shot to their rivals.
Australian Grand Prix: Lando Norris clinches pole in qualifying.(AFP)
In scorching sizzling circumstances at Melbourne’s Albert Park, world champion Max Verstappen got here third in tense qualifying.
Mercedes’ George Russell will maintain Crimson Bull’s four-time world champion firm on the second row. Lewis Hamilton will begin in eighth on his Ferrari debut.
“It’s the perfect way to start the year. A big congrats to the team, everyone has done an amazing job to start with a one-two,” mentioned Norris after his tenth profession pole.
“But it is just quali, right? Let’s see tomorrow,” he added.
“The car is extremely quick. When you put it together it is unbelievable, but it is hard to put it together.
“I am by no means going to get forward of myself, I am assured the automobile is in place however we’ve got by no means run it within the moist.”
The forecast for Sunday’s race is cooler temperatures and rain.
Norris eclipsed his rivals with a flying lap of one minute 15.096 seconds on soft tyres, 0.084sec ahead of Piastri.
“Fairly joyful, nice to start out the yr on the entrance row,” said Piastri.
“Fairly pleased with how qualifying went however simply not fairly sufficient in Q3, however it’s a lengthy season so begin,” added the Australian.
“Possibly left just a little bit on the desk.”
No Australian driver has won their home race since Alan Jones in 1980, but that was a non-championship race before Australia was added to the F1 calendar in 1985.
Verstappen, who was the pole-sitter in 2023 and 2024, was three-tenths behind Norris.
But his rookie teammate Liam Lawson, who replaced the underperforming Sergio Perez, failed to get out of Q1.
‘Quali laps are exciting’
Mercedes’ teenager Kimi Antonelli was another big Q1 casualty after gravel damaged the floor of his car.
“It was good, yesterday was fairly robust so for us to be P3 right this moment, I might take that,” said Verstappen.
“Quali laps are thrilling, good grip round right here and a few quick corners.”
Verstappen is chasing a second win in Australia after his 2023 victory to kickstart his bid for a fifth consecutive world title, a feat only Michael Schumacher has achieved.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda will start a surprise fifth alongside the Williams of Alex Albon.
Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Hamilton were a disappointing seventh and eighth with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz in the other Williams filling out the top 10.
Last year in Melbourne it was a Ferrari one-two with Sainz holding off teammate Leclerc for the win, ahead of Norris.
“It is not fairly the place we wished to be however general I am happy with the progress we’ve got revamped the previous two days,” said Hamilton.
“We did not count on to be eight or 9 tenths behind pole however given it is a weekend of firsts for me, I did not underestimate how steep the training curve could be.”
Fernando Alonso and his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll have struggled for pace all weekend and failed to get through Q2 alongside Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, RB’s Isack Hadjar and Alpine’s Jack Doohan.
Haas’s Ollie Bearman failed to set a time in Q1 and was eliminated with teammate Esteban Ocon, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, Lawson and Antonelli.
Briton’s Bearman has endured a horror weekend, smashing into the barriers in first practice on Friday and unable to take part in the second session.
He skidded into the gravel Saturday on his first lap in third practice, before reporting his gearbox was “damaged” with out finishing a lap in qualifying.