When the gloves finally came off for the very first competitive session of the new Formula One season at the Australian Grand Prix it was McLaren who emerged as clear frontrunners. With pole position claimed by Lando Norris by just eight hundredths of a second from his teammate Oscar Piastri, what was perhaps most striking about their front row lockout was the sheer extent to which the papaya cars bossed it on the high-speed blast through Albert Park in Melbourne.
The fight for the top spot in the end was a tense battle but only between the two McLaren drivers. There was barely a cigarette paper between them in the end but it was the home crowd who were left disappointed when the local boy Piastri was edged out by a whisker, Norris taking pole in 1min 15.096sec.
The Australian was nonetheless not overly concerned, indeed both drivers were ominously and tellingly calm and collected with their performance and that of their car. No alarms, no surprises, the McLaren really is quick. Clearly delivering exactly what they had expected of it, despite previous protestations that they considered other teams to be at very least up there with them.
As it proved they had protested too much. Max Verstappen did better than he anticipated with third place, the Red Bull still not quite up to speed after the problems that hampered it for the second half of last season. Yet he was still almost four-tenths behind the McLarens and George Russell in the Mercedes over four-tenths down in fourth but most shockingly was that the expected surge from Ferrari failed to materialise.
It is early days of course and only qualifying but Charles Leclerc in seventh and Lewis Hamilton, making his qualifying debut for Ferrari in eighth place, being over six-tenths back will be of no little cause for concern at the Scuderia. Not least in that they were behind the RB of Yuki Tsunoda and the Williams of Alex Albon – who both put in superb runs.
Leclerc suggested the track had just got away from the Ferrari and how it works its tyres but Hamilton conceded the process of coming to terms with his new ride, as evidenced by an uncharacteristic spin in Q2, was taking longer than expected,
McLaren’s Australian-born hero Oscar Piastri has qualified second behind teammate Lando Norris. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AP
“For me, we’re just improving every single lap, session on session,” Hamilton said. “Big learning curve this weekend. The car was so much different from the moment I left the pit lane. Just feeling so much different than I’ve ever experienced here. It’s been a lot slower process for me to really build confidence in the car. If you look at the high speed everywhere, I’ve been down all weekend.”
Leclerc certainly would have expected more. Albert Park is a challenging circuit and one that rewards confidence in the car and an ability to push. On this form the McLaren looks to be a platform both Norris and Piastri have great faith in and can rail on to the limit with ease.
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Lewis Hamilton will be burning the midnight oil to learn Ferrari’s rain settings with wet weather forecast for the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, as the Briton continues to get up to speed with his new team.
The 40-year-old struggled for pace during the three practice sessions and qualified only eighth, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc, in scorching heat on Saturday.
Despite Ferrari’s lack of qualifying pace, rain on Sunday could help them make up ground to the McLarens at the front.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a challenge, I’ve never driven this car in the rain,” said Hamilton. “I don’t even know the rain settings so I’ve got to go and study that tonight. It will be a learning experience again.”
Hamilton was nearly nine-tenths of a second behind Lando Norris’s fastest lap but if the seven-time world champion was disappointed by his car’s performance, he hid it well.
“I had a really good time out there today. Everything’s been a first this weekend,” Hamilton said. “To be that close in my first qualifying session, I’d definitely take it. We’ll just get our heads down and start working, trying to find out why we’re not on pace with the frontrunners.” Reuters
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Norris admitted he was surprised by Ferrari’s form. “I was expecting more. They’ve been just as quick as us the whole weekend and we definitely came into qualifying expecting probably a fight with Ferrari,” he said. “I felt like I still took a good amount of risks in the final lap to get pole. But I did expect Ferrari to be a bit quicker.”
Piastri was equally surprised but offered a more prosaic and possibly inadvertently realistic explanation. “We expected Ferrari to be probably our biggest challenger, so I don’t know, maybe we just took more sandbags out than everyone else,” he said.
Both drivers then were understandably pleased with the result. The pole is the perfect start to the season for Norris and McLaren, demonstrating that given full rein, the MCL39 is a genuinely quick car and very much a title contender without doubt. Rain is expected on Sunday which may yet play a part in deciding the opener but while it can be a great leveller, the McLaren strengths will not be entirely neutralised even then.
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Lando Norris won his first ever pole position in Australia and McLaren’s first since 2012. Photograph: Mark Peterson/Reuters
On the first hot runs in Q3 Norris opened with a quick time, which was then deleted for exceeding track limits at turn four, while Piastri had looked to challenge him but for a tiny lapse going wide at the very end of his lap. However Verstappen immediately countered taking the top spot with a time of 1min 15.671sec –clear of Russell who moved into second with a fine lap just two-hundredths back.
There was little to choose from them as the final runs commenced. Piastri went out first and put in a blinding lap to claim provisional pole only for Norris to pile in behind at a rate of knots to claim pole. Verstappen could not match them and neither Ferrari was able to stay with the leaders.
Williams, however, will be enormously pleased with what constitutes a giant leap forward for the struggling team, with Carlos Sainz claiming 10th.
Pierre Gasly was in ninth for Alpine. The rookie Isack Hadjar was 11th for RB, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in 12th and 13th for Aston Martin, the Australian rookie Jack Doohan was in 14th for Alpine, while the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto did well to claim 15th for Sauber in his debut qualifying session.
Red Bull’s new driver Liam Lawson struggled on his first outing for the team, twice overcooking it and failing to get out of Q1; he finished 18th.
The British rookie Ollie Bearman, who crashed out in both first and third practice sessions and was unable to take part in the second session, had a gearbox issue and did not set a time in Q1 and will start from the back of the grid for Haas.
Kimi Antonelli was 16th for Mercedes, Nico Hülkenberg 17th for Sauber, and Esteban Ocon in 19th for Haas.
