Zak Brown couldn’t hide his excitement after McLaren dominated qualifying in Australia, with his drivers locking out the front row in a nail-biting session that had him on the edge of his seat.
Formula 1 is back in Melbourne as a season opener for the first time since before COVID hit, and McLaren showed up ready to play. Lando Norris and hometown hero Oscar Piastri proved they’ve got serious pace this year.
“Yeah, that was a little bit of pressure,” Brown admitted to Viaplay. “I said to Andrea [Stella] when there were three minutes to go ‘I’m not sure if this is that much fun’, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.”
The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife, prompting a strategy adjustment.
“We sent them out early,” Brown explained. “The pressure was on.”
And pressure there certainly was. Both McLaren drivers made life difficult for themselves in Q3.
Piastri, racing in front of his Australian fans, made a mistake during his first run. Norris didn’t fare any better, exceeding track limits and having his time deleted.
That left everything riding on their final flying laps.
Both drivers delivered when it mattered most, putting together strong performances that secured the 1-2 starting positions for tomorrow’s race.
The gap to their competitors caught even Brown by surprise.
“I’m a little bit surprised by the margin given how the session went,” he said. “But now we turn our attention to what is probably a wet race tomorrow.”
McLaren’s car seems to have a unique strength that could prove valuable on the Albert Park circuit.
“The car seems to kind of almost get stronger over the lap, our sector three is really strong,” Brown noted. “But let’s see what happens tomorrow. It’s going to be a wild one.”
With rain in the forecast and two McLarens leading the pack, Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix promises to be anything but predictable.
