McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secure front row at Australian GP

MELBOURNE – McLaren fired a warning shot to their rivals on March 15, as Lando Norris clinched pole position for the season-opening Formula One Australian Grand Prix ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.

In scorching hot conditions at Melbourne’s Albert Park, world champion Max Verstappen came third in tense qualifying.

Mercedes’ George Russell will keep Red Bull’s four-time world champion company on the second row. Lewis Hamilton will start 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,” Norris said of McLaren, who

won the constructors’ championship last season.

“But it is just quali, right? Let’s see tomorrow.

“The car is extremely quick. When you put it together it is unbelievable, but it is hard to put it together. I’m never going to get ahead of myself, I’m confident the car is in a good place but we have never run it in the wet.”

The forecast for the race on March 16 is for cooler temperatures and rain.

The Briton eclipsed his rivals with a flying lap of 1min 15.096sec on soft tyres, 0.084sec ahead of Piastri.

“Pretty happy, great to start the year on the front row,” said the Australian.

“Pretty happy with how qualifying went but just not quite enough in Q3, but it is a long season so a good start.”

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.

Mercedes’ teenager Kimi Antonelli was another big Q1 casualty after gravel damaged the floor of his car.

“It was good, yesterday was quite tough so for us to be P3 today, I’d take that,” said Verstappen.

“Quali laps are exciting, good grip around here and some fast corners.”

Verstappen is chasing a second win in Australia after his 2023 victory to kick-start his bid for a fifth consecutive world title, a feat only Michael Schumacher has achieved.

Racing Bulls’ 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.

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.

In other news, F1 boss Stefano Domenicali will travel to Bangkok next week following the Australian Grand Prix for talks over a potential race in the Thai capital, he told Sky Sports.

The Italian ex-Ferrari boss, who has just extended his contract to remain F1 president and chief executive until 2029, is keen to examine new markets as the sport soars in popularity.

He appeared to suggest Thailand was a contender, among other venues, to add to the 24-race calendar.

“The good thing that we were able to do in the last couple of years has been to focus on the places that we believe represent the future for Formula One,” he told Sky in Melbourne.

“In terms of promoters and tracks that we are already at, we have a long-term standing agreement with a lot of them that enables them to invest, to improve the facility, the quality of the entertainment that we need to give to our fans.

“And we receive a lot of attention from other places in the world. After finishing the race here in Melbourne, I go to Bangkok to see (if) there is a potential interest to develop something there.” AFP