MELBOURNE :McLaren’s Lando Norris kept his cool on a sweltering afternoon at Albert Park to take pole position at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Saturday as his teammate Oscar Piastri joined him on the front row.
Defending champion Max Verstappen will start his Red Bull car third on the grid ahead of fourth-placed Mercedes driver George Russell but it was a disappointing session for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc to start seventh and Lewis Hamilton eighth.
Briton Norris lapped the lakeside circuit in one minute, 15.096 seconds, 0.084 ahead of Melbourne native Piastri, who will hope to become Australia’s first home winner since the race joined F1’s global calendar in 1985.
“It’s the perfect way to start the year,” said Norris.
“Let’s wait and see tomorrow, I know it’s going to be a tricky race.
“I’m confident the car’s in a great position.”
Yuki Tsunoda was fifth for Racing Bulls and drove like a man with a point to prove after missing out on a race seat at Red Bull to New Zealander Liam Lawson.
Williams also landed a blow in the mid-field battle, with Alex Albon sixth, four places better than teammate Carlos Sainz.
Pierre Gasly was ninth for Alpine, comfortably out-qualifying his new teammate Jack Doohan (14).
Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar was 11th, the best of the six drivers in Australia starting a Formula One season for the first time.
It was a mixed bag for the others, with Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto 15th after scraping into the second session of qualifying (Q2).
Having triggered two red flags in two days of practice, Haas rookie Oliver Bearman suffered a gearbox problem in his out-lap and had to return to the garage, unable to post a time.
It was a similarly fruitless day for Red Bull’s Lawson, who was knocked out of Q1 after sitting out the final practice earlier due to a power unit problem.
Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli also missed Q2, knocked out of the top 15 by a last-ditch lap from Bortoleto.
