Formula 1: Norris Takes Melbourne Pole With Hamilton Eighth

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made it a McLaren one-two in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton took eighth on his Ferrari debut.

Norris and Piastri made life difficult for themselves with mistakes on their first laps in the final part of qualifying, but both produced strong laps on their final runs.

Briton Norris beat Australian Piastri by 0.084 seconds as both knocked early pace-setter Max Verstappen’s Red Bull down to third in Melbourne.

Verstappen improved on his final run despite brushing the gravel in the fast chicane at Turns Nine and 10 and ended up 0.385secs off the pace, but managed to stay ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell in fourth.
Hamilton was 0.218secs slower than team-mate Charles Leclerc as the Ferraris took the fourth row behind the impressive Racing Bull of Yuki Tsunoda and Williams of Alex Albon.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Williams’ Carlos Sainz completed the top 10.

Norris was pleased by his performance but his main concern was the race, for which rain is predicted.
He said: “It’s the perfect way to start the year. Everyone at McLaren has done an amazing job to start with a one-two but it’s just qualifying, let’s see tomorrow, it’s going to be a tricky race but this is a good way to start.

“The car is extremely quick and when you put it together it’s unbelievable but it’s difficult to put together.

“Particularly after the first lap, when I went off and lost my lap, you’re in a tricky position – you need to risk it but not go too far because you can’t make a mistake. It’s a difficult balance. We know how quick Max and Red Bull are in the rain.”

Hamilton said there was “a lot to dissect” before Sunday’s race.

“We will just get ours heads down and start finding out why we are not on pace with the front runners,” he told Sky Sports.

“Tomorrow is going to be a challenge. I’ve never driven this car in the rain, I don’t even know the rain settings but I’ve got to go and study that tonight and it will be a learning experience again.”