MELBOURNE — Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri delivered on McLaren’s preseason promise by locking out the front row of the grid for Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Norris beat teammate Piastri to pole position by 0.084 seconds, with a laptime of 1:15.096, on their final attempts in Q3, with reigning champion Max Verstappen third fastest and 0.385 seconds off the pace.

Norris made a mistake on his first attempt in Q3, building the pressure ahead of his final run at the end of the session. Verstappen provisionally held the top spot before both McLarens showed their true potential, living up to the hype that has followed the team throughout the preseason.

“It’s the perfect way to start the year,” Norris said. “But it’s just quali, right? Let’s wait and see tomorrow — it’s going to be a tricky race.”

George Russell secured fourth on the grid for Mercedes ahead of a surprise performance from Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda in fifth place. Alex Albon hauled his Williams to sixth overall ahead of disappointing performances from the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, which were roughly 0.7 seconds off the pace of the McLarens.

After Leclerc topped practice on Friday, he started Saturday as one of the favourites for pole but struggled with the balance of his car in final practice and was unable to deliver when it mattered in Q3. Leclerc was 0.218 seconds clear of new teammate Hamilton, who never looked like a contender for pole and spun his Ferrari in the final moments of Q2.

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Lewis Hamilton spins his Ferrari during Australian Grand Prix qualifying

Lewis Hamilton spins his Ferrari during Q2 of the Australian Grand Prix, landing himself eighth on the grid.

Pierre Gasly secured ninth place for Alpine ahead of Williams driver Carlos Sainz rounding out the top ten.

Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar missed out on a place in the top ten by 0.063 seconds and will start 11th on the grid ahead of the two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Jack Doohan came across a yellow flag in the final sector his flying lap, which appeared to cost him lap time and left him 14th on the grid for his home race. Gabriel Bortoleto impressed for Sauber, beating his more experienced teammate Nico Hülkenberg to a place in Q2 before qualifying 15th for his F1 debut.

On his debut with Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was beaten to a place in Q2 by Bortoleto by just 0.007 seconds. Antonelli damaged the floor of his Mercedes after running slightly wide at Turn 6, with the team later confirming it cost him performance on his final two attempts at making Q2. Despite the disappointing result, the 18-year-old was just 0.6 seconds off the fastest time of Q1 set by Norris’ McLaren.

Hulkenberg will start 17th for Sauber ahead of Liam Lawson, whose nightmare weekend continued into qualifying. The Red Bull driver missed most of final practice with a power unit issue and then made mistakes on two flying laps in Q1 to finish 18th overall.

Esteban Ocon was 19th fastest for Haas while teammate Ollie Bearman, who spun out of two of the three practice sessions earlier in the weekend, will start from last place after a gearbox issue meant he failed to set a lap time.