Home crowd hearts shatter as Norris steals Pole from Piastri

So close yet so far to securing a dream home pole, Oscar Piastri was forced to settle for a second-place start at his home Grand Prix as Lando Norris outpaced the Australian by less than a tenth, cementing a McLaren front-row lockout for the season opener.

Qualifying 1:

Needing to maximise his time on track after an unfavourable start to the weekend, Ollie Bearman was at the head of the impatient field when the light went green to start the first qualifying session of the season, however, it started on a sour note when the rookie began reporting of gearbox issues on his outlap, later adding that the car was “broken”.

His teammate was the first to record a lap, claiming a weightless P1 before the high rollers stepped up to the Q1 challenge. 

McLaren topped the initial timesheets, with the pairing separated by less than two-tenths before Max Verstappen had his say, splitting Norris and Piastri.

Despite the demotion, the McLaren boys were far from worried, with the sandbags well and truly thrown out ahead of their Q2 advancement. 

Behind, it was a familiar name to the top five in Carlos Sainz, with his former teammate trailing close by.

His current teammate wasn’t too much further behind, seeing both Williams in the top ten as the session drew to a close.

Jack Doohan wasted no time in making his intentions known, being one of the first drivers to lay down some rubber, however, edging towards the backend of the order.

When it came to crunch time, the Australian outpaced his experienced teammate to advance through to Q2 in P8.

With five minutes on the clock, attention switched to the bottom five where Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon, with Bearman condemned to a last-place start at best.

The field headed out to complete their last-ditch attempts, with big names tumbling down the order as the bottom five were set in stone.

What should have been a shock but wasn’t based on his practice session form was Lawson’s Q1 exit, caused by a final lap that ended with the Kiwi running across the grass at the final turn, claiming he “had no tyres [at the] end of [the] lap”.

Lawson will now start the Australian Grand Prix from 17th on the grid, ahead of the struggling Haas duo.

Unable to boost himself into the first Q2 session of the year after a messy run through the final sector, Hulkenberg was forced to sit by and watch his rookie teammate demote fellow newcomer Kimi Antonelli into the elimination zone, with Gabriel Bortoleto silencing comments from the Red Bull camp which his cut off time of 1:16.516s.

Qualifying 2:

Max Verstappen hurried out of the pitlane to commence Q2, setting an early benchmark of 1:15.688s, a time that Piastri and Norris both managed to outdo by two-tenths.

Piastri’s time of 1:15.468s remained the quickest while he returned to the pitlane, however, upon return, the #81’s teammate managed to knock him down a peg after crossing the line five hundredths quicker.

The McLaren duo advanced through with ease, setting their sights on a front row lock-out.

Turn 10 caught even the most experienced drivers out, with Alonso and Sainz both saving potentially weekend-ruining crashes, leaving the Aston Martin driver without a lap and in the bottom five.

Joining Alonso in the stressful positions were Isack Hadjar, Lance Stroll, Bortoleto and the home racer Doohan, with all five well and truly in with a shot at securing their place in Q3 as the field rolled out for their do-or-die runs.

Bortoleto counted himself out after making an error at Turn 4, while Doohan was hit with double bouts of bad luck when his final sector was ruined by slow-moving cars.

In front of his home crowd, the Australian’s fastest qualifying time was 1:16.863s.

The two rookies will line up in P15 and P14, sharing a Q2 exit with both Aston Martin drivers who simply lacked top-ten pace.

Hadjar was the last driver to miss the cut-off for a Q3 appearance on debut, bowing out with a time of 1:16.175.

Qualifying 3:

In hopes of securing first position, Piastri was the first driver to exit the pitlane, however, his run didn’t go smoothly after a final corner slide left him with a time of 1:16.147s.

His teammate’s run wasn’t much better, with Norris’ lap being deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4. 

In provisional pole position, no one could top Max Verstappen’s time of 1:15.671s, even if the top three were separated by less than one-tenth. 

Alex Albon had managed to park his Williams into P5, besting his recruited teammate by two-tenths, however, more notably placing Lewis Hamilton between the blue machines before returning to the pitlane.

When the drivers got going for one final run, ready to stake their claim at sealing pole position for the season opener Grand Prix, it was mind games in the pitlane, with rivals taking their sweet time to build ideal gaps.

Instantly there were improvements across the board, with Albon lighting up the micro sectors to boost his Williams into P6.

He wasn’t the only mid-field stand out, with Yuki Tsunoda going one better in P5, with both drivers edging ahead of a very disappointed Ferrari duo.

Hamilton’s lap fell short as he crossed the line to guarantee himself P8, while Leclerc gave up before taking the chequered flag, learning of his P7 fate in the pitlane.

Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top ten, however, all eyes were focused on the front runners.

Looking untouchable across the final lap, the McLaren duo were each other’s greatest competition for pole.

Both drivers made significant improvements with the timing sheets going green and purple, however, it was Lando Norris who disappointed the Melbourne crowd by clinching Pole by less than a tenth, demoting Piastri’s 1:15.180s to a P2 start in what was an incredible session for the papaya team.

Not-so-great friends Max Verstappen and George Russell will share the second row, with their off-track angst combined with a downpour of rain tomorrow expected to kick the season off on a thrilling note.

The possiblity for the race to be shifted one hour later due to unsafe weather conditions is a dissusion teams, drivers and the FIA are currently holding.

See here for more information: RACE DELAY? AGP FACING WEATHER DELAYS

Image: Steven Tee/LAT Images

Grand Prix week signals the launch for Auto Action’s all-new monthly printed magazine – coffee-table reading packed with in-depth features from around the motorsport world. On sale at newsagents from tomorrow.

A full F1 car by car preview can also be found in the LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE

For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.