McLaren issue ominous message to F1 rivals after qualifying domination

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has hailed his squad following its impressive display during qualifying ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

The outstanding performance comes despite McLaren expecting the Albert Park Circuit to be one of its weaker tracks in the season.

Lando Norris secured pole position ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri with less than a tenth of a second separating the pair.

However, it held a large advantage over the rest of the field. Max Verstappen was its closest challenger in third place, but the four-time champion was four-tenths down on Norris' pole-setting effort.

While McLaren entered the season as many people's favourite to win the title this year, Stella admitted surprise over its pace to the competition.

“It's almost surprising, in a way, that the car has enjoyed this kind of strength in a circuit which we thought would not necessarily be one of our favourites for the season,” Stella told Sky F1.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank the entire team at McLaren, the men and women that have worked so hard over the winter to improve a car that was already quite competitive, a world champion car.

“We knew that we couldn't be any complacent, because F1 is experiencing one of the most competitive situations ever with so many cars that are in condition to fight for wins.”

Stella not buying into huge Ferrari gap

One of the biggest surprises from the qualifying session was Ferrari as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton managing just seventh and eighth respectively.

The Italian squad, which was also tipped as a major title contender this year, was six and a half tenths down on McLaren.

While Stella suggested McLaren is truly at the head of the F1 field, he stated the gaps to its rival teams are smaller than the picture painted by the qualifying results.

“I think this is the most factual assessment so far in terms of pecking order, but I think some teams, I don't really take Ferraris's performance today at face value,” he said.

“They are much closer than the gaps in q3 would tell. Qualifying has shown that Red Bull is not far [away], Verstappen has put together strong laps.

“I think we don't have to under-evaluate that the car is certainly competitive, but Oscar and Lando have done a very good job with some stress in Q3, a very good job of maximizing what was available.