MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) 鈥 McLaren locked up the front row in Melbourne for Sunday鈥檚 Australian Grand Prix, having dominated its rivals, including Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari 鈥 whose drivers, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, will start from seventh and eighth on the grid.
set a searing final qualifying lap to secure pole position, his first at Melbourne鈥檚 Albert Park, and milestone 10th overall, in front of his teammate and a record Saturday crowd of 136,347 at Albert Park.
"Not a bad way to start the year, thanks everyone,鈥 Norris said on his team radio shortly after the qualifying session ended ahead of Sunday鈥檚 opening race of the Formula 1 season.
Hamilton was circumspect about his qualifying finish.
鈥淚t isn鈥檛 quite where we wanted to be but overall I鈥檓 satisfied with the progress we have made over the past two days," Hamilton said. "We didn鈥檛 expect to be eight- or nine-tenths (of a second) behind pole but given this is a weekend of firsts for me, I didn鈥檛 underestimate how steep the learning curve would be.鈥
Montreal's Lance Stroll was 13th.
Norris went into Q3 on the back foot after his first lap was deleted for a track limit infringement at turn four, where he put all four wheels off the track. But he delivered when it mattered with his one run.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough one, because you want to take a lot of risks, especially on this track,鈥 Norris said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a track where you鈥檝e got to commit and you鈥檝e got to know you know what your target is and once you鈥檝e turned in, you鈥檙e kind of hoping for the best in a lot of cases.
鈥淥bviously I took too many of my first (Q3) lap and got track limits, so I was in a difficult position with knowing how much risk I wanted to take, but I put it together well.鈥
And the Brit is confident he can maintain that form in the race.
鈥淚 think we were decent in Bahrain, and I think we鈥檙e going to be pretty good here," Norris said. 鈥淲e were pretty good here last year and that was with a much worse car, so we鈥檙e going in with one target clearly, which is to have two cars at the top.鈥
Piastri was not unhappy to be second, having maximixed his lap, which enabled McLaren to lock out the front row for the second straight race, following 2024鈥檚 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But the Australian hasn鈥檛 given up on becoming the first Australian to win his home F1 Grand Prix.
鈥淚t would be really special to be able to achieve that,鈥 Piastri said. 鈥淏ut, I鈥檓 not setting my sights too to firmly on that, we鈥檝e got a lot of work to do (first) to try to maximize the race tomorrow 鈥 we (also) have to see what the weather does first.鈥
Day-long rain is in the forecast on Sunday.
Red Bull鈥檚 Max Verstappen qualified third, shrugging off pre-season pace concerns for the team about its RB21 car. But he downplayed his chances of challenging the McLarens in the 58-lap race on a day when his new teammate Liam Lawson qualified well down in 18th, following a scrappy Q1 lap that questioned the team鈥檚 decision to replace Mexican Sergio P茅rez for 2025.
鈥淵eah, I mean, I don鈥檛 expect like any kind of miracles about it,鈥 the Dutchman said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 OK but it鈥檚 not on the same level (as the McLaren). But, I鈥檒l just do my best, (and) see what happens.鈥
Mercedes鈥 hopes of a return to form were dashed with George Russell qualifying fourth, despite strong pace throughout practice. His 18-year-old rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who skipped F3 as part of his fast track through the junior categories, was a shock Q1 exit on his F1 debut and will start 16th.
Ferrari had expectations it could challenge for the title, with Leclerc starting seventh and Hamilton eighth 鈥 for a disappointing fourth row lockout that means it鈥檒l be fighting for points, not podiums, should rain not materialize.
Racing Bulls, Red Bull鈥檚 second F1 team, continued to impress in qualifying 鈥 with Yuki Tsunoda securing fifth on the grid, which is his highest placing since Brazil 2024. Isack Hadjar, his French rookie teammate, put in a solid performance to start 11th.
Williams also showed its pre-season pace was real, after the British squad got both its drivers into the top-10 with Alex Albon sixth and defending Australian champion Carlos Sainz ninth.
Alpine鈥檚 Pierre Gasly closed out the top-10 with his resurgent A525 car, three places ahead of his Aussie teammate Jack Doohan.
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