Lando Norris was all smiles after Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, with the McLaren driver beating team mate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pole position.
In a pulsating session around Melbourne’s Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Norris clocked a time of 1m 15.096s at the end of Q3 – after his first effort was deleted over track limits – to edge out Piastri by just under a tenth of a second.
As McLaren look to do the double in the Teams’ Championship, and their drivers aim for individual glory, Norris said of the first competitive session of the season: “Very good! It’s the perfect way to start the year.
“First of all, a big congrats to the team – everyone at McLaren has done an amazing job to continue from where we were at the end of last season, to start with a 1-2.”
Norris and McLaren were the class of the field during Qualifying at Albert Park
He added: “It’s just quali, right? Let’s wait and see tomorrow. I know it’s going to be a tricky race, but today was the perfect way to start.”
As it stands, weather forecasts are pointing toward a wet Sunday in Melbourne, meaning completely different conditions to those seen so far this weekend.
AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the Qualifying action from Australia as Norris takes pole
Asked about his victory chances, Norris continued: “I’m confident that the car’s in a good position, but we’ve also never run in the wet. We know how quick Max and Red Bull are in the rain, so let’s wait and see.
“[There will be] many opportunities for everyone, but also a lot of new things that we’re going to be learning along the way, so we’ll see tomorrow.”
Piastri, meanwhile, expressed some mixed feelings, with the home favourite missing out on what would have been a maiden pole – in front of the packed grandstands – by just 0.084s.
Piastri backed up his team mate in the decisive Q3 phase to make it a McLaren 1-2
“I’m pretty happy,” he said. “It’s probably one position further back than I would’ve liked, but it’s a great start to the year and great to have the team on the front row.
“Now we’ll reset and see what tomorrow has in store. I’m pretty happy with how Qualifying went, just not quite enough in Q3, but it’s the start of a long season. A solid start.”
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Pushed on what separated the two McLarens, Piastri commented: “I think it’s probably a little bit in a couple of places. I think Sector 3 I lost a little bit of time compared to the lap before from Q2. I also locked up there and went off in the first run of Q3, so I didn’t really want to do that twice.
“I maybe left a little bit on the table, but I think it was pretty tricky out there for everybody. Q3 at the start looked pretty messy, so I’m just happy to be on the front row and have a good start.”
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