George Russell promised to make the most of a great start to the Formula One season as he blazed to pole position the Australian Grand Prix.
The British driver, 28, arrived for the new campaign in Melbourne as the favourite with Mercedes tipped to hold the upper hand in F1 new regulations.
Russell delivered an impressive lap of the Albert Park circuit, nearly three tenths faster than teammate Kimi Antonelli.
It was a completely different story for Max Verstappen who said a “weird” braking failure caused him to crash out in the first session of qualifying as the four-times world champion lost grip and slammed his Red Bull into a barrier.
Verstappen skidded out at turn one of the lakeside circuit but was unharmed and exited the car, having failed to record a single lap time.
Following Verstappen's shock early exit, Isack Hadjar took third on his Red Bull debut. However, Hadjar was almost eight tenths slower than Russell.
Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, defending champion Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton followed for Ferrari and McLaren. But they were the best part of a second behind Russell.
“We thought as a team we had a really good package beneath us, but we didn't quite think it was that good,” said Russell.
“I am definitely surprised by the gap. We have a really great engine, but we also have a great car, too, and that hasn't been highlighted enough.
“We want to win, we want to be on pole, we want to dominate the weekend, but it is a really long season, and we need to get through tomorrow and have a clean race.
“And I definitely have to make hay while the sun shines. My mentality coming into this race is if we started on the front foot, it doesn't guarantee anything. And if we started on the back foot, it doesn't guarantee anything either.”
Norris slams 'worst' F1 cars
McLaren's defending champion Norris was scathing of Formula One's engine and chassis overhaul after qualifying sixth.
Norris has had a difficult weekend in Melbourne, struggling with reliability and set-up problems, and the new mode of driving which puts more emphasis on energy harvesting and managing battery power.
“You decelerate so much before corners, you have to lift everywhere to make sure the battery pack's at the top,” the Briton said.
“If the pack's too high, you're also screwed. It's just difficult, but it’s what we have.”
While powered by Mercedes engines, constructors champions McLaren were well off the pace of their Mercedes rivals in qualifying.
Russell's pole lap of 1:18.518 was over eight-tenths of a second quicker than McLaren's Piastri, who qualified fifth.
“It doesn't feel good as a driver, but I'm sure George is smiling,” said Norris.
“We've come from the best cars ever made in Formula One and the nicest to drive to probably the worst. But you have to live with it.”
Verstappen – condemned to starting near the back of the grid, or in the pit-lane depending on repairs – is now pinning his hopes on rivals struggling with the long runs in race conditions on Sunday.
“There's so many unknowns, of course, at the moment that we still need to get on top of,” he said.
“Yeah, we'll see tomorrow what we can do.”
