When the gloves finally came off for the very first competitive session of the new Formula One season at the Australian Grand Prix it was McLaren who emerged as clear frontrunners. With pole position claimed by Lando Norris by just eight hundredths of a second from his teammate Oscar Piastri, what was perhaps most striking about their front row lockout was the sheer extent to which the papaya cars bossed it on the high-speed blast through Albert Park in Melbourne.
The fight for the top spot in the end was a tense battle but only between the two McLaren drivers. There was barely a cigarette paper between them in the end but it was the home crowd who were left disappointed when the local boy Piastri was edged out by a whisker, Norris taking pole in 1min 15.096sec.
