Australian Grand Prix: Lando Norris takes pole with Lewis Hamilton eighth
The last British man on the grid, Haas driver Oliver Bearman, will start after a tough weekend.
His gearbox failed on the first lap of the qualifying race, spinning the gravel in the last session after a crash in the second practice, which took him time at the start of the first entire season.
Of the six rookies on the grid, the most impressive performance comes from Brazil’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who surpassed his experienced Sauber teammate Nico Hulkenberg by 15, two places for the Germans.
Norris is happy with his performance, but his main focus is race, with rainfall expected.
He said: “It’s the ideal way to start a year. Everyone at McLaren has done an amazing job starting with a two-person but it’s just qualifying, let’s look at it tomorrow, it’s going to be a tricky game, but it’s a great way to start.
“This car is very fast and it’s incredible when you put it together, but it’s hard to put it together.
“Especially after the first lap, when I left and lost my knee, you were in a tricky position – you need to take risks, but don’t go too far because you can’t make mistakes. It’s a difficult balance. We know how fast Max and Red Bull are in the rain.”
Verstappen said he didn’t believe he could beat McClarence even in a perfect lap run.
“It was hard to play in P3 yesterday,” he said. “The qualifying was very exciting, there was a lot of good grip around here and some quick, so it was always fun in the F1 car.
“Ultimately, the gap is huge for them, so it won’t make a difference in position. Wet or dry, I don’t mind, but it can happen in a lot of crazy things that are wet.”
So far, Bearman has made mistakes in practice while digesting weekends.
“In practice classes, I wasn’t living well, not meeting the standards, and the gearbox problem almost sums up the weekends, my life became very difficult,” he said.
