As expected, McLaren started the year with clear dominance. They put in an impressive performance in the first qualifying session of the season, but tomorrow's race will likely be a very different story.
After the first few fast laps in Q1, we saw a steady flow of names at the top until Lando Norris, George Russell, and Max Verstappen settled in. There were no surprises, as the first qualifying session ended in that order. Liam Lawson, however, was out of luck, and was the first driver to be eliminated, forcing him to immediately bid farewell to his first qualifying session with Red Bull. The same applied to the two Haas drivers, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Nico Hülkenberg, while Gabriel Bortoleto, also new to the F1 circuit, and Jack Doohan put in a Q2-worthy lap.
In Q2, we could already see clear McLaren dominance, with Oscar Piastri and Norris leading the field. Behind them, Verstappen and Russell were glued, followed by the two Scuderia Ferrari cars. At the end of the stage, the order was Norris, Piastri, and Verstappen, while the two Williams and Yuki Tsunoda advanced easily, while the two Aston Martins, Isaac Hadjart, Bortoleto, and Doohan, were among the eliminated cars.
In Q3, McLaren's early attempts didn't go well; both cars had their first laps deleted, so the initial fastest attempts showed the order of Verstappen, Russell, and Leclerc. However, this picture was deceptive, as the McLaren retained tremendous speed, which didn't take long to show. In the final stages, Lando Norris, who found himself in a difficult situation, easily took pole position ahead of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, while the two Scuderia Ferrari cars were also overtaken by Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon. It was a real blast.
Photo: Reuters / XPB Images
