By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -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.
“I’m never going to get ahead of myself, I’m not that kind of guy. I’m confident the car is in a great position but we’ve also never run in the wet.”
Rain forecast for Sunday could make the race a lottery but McLaren were delighted with their raw pace in the dry.
Verstappen, bidding for a fifth consecutive drivers’ title, had struggled with handling problems through free practice so he was also glad to be near the front for Sunday.
“Yesterday was quite tough so for us to be in P3 today I will take that,” he said.
“For me dry or wet is fine, in the weather there is always some crazy things that can happen and especially around here it can be quite slippery.”
Racing Bulls were buoyed to have a car fifth on the grid as Yuki Tsunoda drove like a man with a point to prove after missing out on a Red Bull seat 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.
MUCH TO DISSECT
Ferrari’s underwhelming pace was a surprise to their rivals and to Hamilton, whose quickest lap in the final qualifying session (Q3) was nearly nine-tenths of a second slower than Norris’s.
He also lost control and spun in the middle of the track at one point during Q2.
“I didn’t know we’d be nine-tenths off or eight-tenths off today but there is a lot to dissect, for sure,” Hamilton said.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a challenge, I’ve never driven this car in the rain. I don’t even know the rain settings so I’ve got to go and study that tonight.”
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.
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.
His teammate Esteban Ocon will be at the back of the grid after qualifying 19th.
Lawson’s Red Bull debut was forgettable, having been knocked out of Q1 after sitting out the final practice earlier in the day 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.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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