Australia qualifying

Qualifying in Melbourne – LIVE from 6 a.m.

Lando Norris (center) with Oscar Piastri (left) and Max Verstappen(Bild: AP/Scott Barbour)

Lando Norris has secured the first pole position of the new Formula 1 year and McLaren has taken the front row of the grid. The Briton was 0.088 seconds faster than his team-mate Oscar Piastri in qualifying on Saturday in Melbourne, missing out on the first pole by an Australian in Australia.

World champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull finished third. The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton only finished seventh and eighth.

Lewis Hamilton in the new Ferrari car(Bild: AFP/SAEED KHAN)

George Russell put his Mercedes in fourth place on the grid in high temperatures, followed by Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bull and Alexander Albon in the Williams on Sunday (5.00 am CET/live in the krone.at ticker). Pierre Gasly from the Alpine team and Carlos Sainz in the second Williams complete the top ten.

Rain likely to be an important factor on Sunday
"Not such a bad way to start the year," said Norris in the cockpit. A little later, he said that the car was extremely fast, "and when you get it like that, it's incredible, but it's hard to get it right". The 25-year-old said he would not get cocky after his tenth career pole position. "That was just qualifying, let's wait for tomorrow." Piastri was also delighted with the qualifying result. "I'm pretty happy with how qualifying went, but it wasn't quite enough in Q3. But it's a long season, so a good start," he said.

(Bild: AP/Heath McKinley)

Verstappen was pleased after the previous day's practice session had been less positive. "Yesterday was quite difficult, and if we're third today, then that's good," said the Dutchman. Rain is forecast for Sunday, which could shake things up. "Crazy things can happen in the wet and it could be quite slippery here."

The result:

Things did not go very well for the second Red Bull driver Liam Lawson. The New Zealander stayed on the track in the first qualifying segment. The 18-year-old Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli also failed to make it past Q1.