Max Verstappen was not surprised that the McLaren drivers were the fastest in qualifying for the first race of the season in Australia, but he is satisfied that he was able to be their closest companion – where Lando Norris gained an advantage of almost four tenths of a second?
Verstappen had a small advantage approaching the first corner and increased it briefly with a higher entry speed, but Norris had a higher minimum and a better exit speed and they were almost even on the way to the third corner.
Norris takes the lead by better passing the slow turn 3 and is earlier on the gas at the exit of turn 4, thus escaping to about a tenth of the lead in the first sector.
Verstappen is a little faster through turns 6 and 7 and due to a better exit and slightly less air resistance, he takes about a tenth off Norris on the full throttle move towards turns 9 and 10 and there the situation is again completely equal.
This situation continued on the way to the slow turn 11 where Norris is initially behind, but is at full throttle earlier and starts to build a large advantage which he further increases in turns 12, 13 and 14 and in the end finishes almost four tenths ahead.
The difference was especially big in the last two turns where Norris gains 0.159 s and due to the better exit speed he escapes Verstappen by another 0.065 s on the way to the finish.
The balance of power during the lap also suggests that McLaren was able to keep the soft C5 tires in better condition for the demanding final sector where Norris took advantage of much better grip and built a large advantage.
