It will be an all-McLaren front row to the grid for the Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the Formula 1 World Championship. Lewis Hamilton took pole in a time of 1:24.922 ahead of team-mate Jenson Button (1:25.074). Third place at the Albert Park circuit went to the Lotus of Romain Grosjean (1:25.302).
The McLaren drivers and beaming returnee Romain Grosjean on Saturday looked to have knocked Red Bull from its dominant perch.
"McLaren had an upgrade at the last test and it's performed here at Albert Park," said former team driver and BBC commentator David Coulthard.
Lewis Hamilton beat his teammate Jenson Button to pole in Melbourne, but just a few tenths behind is the reigning GP2 champion Grosjean.
Frenchman Grosjean's teammate Kimi Raikkonen had a dire return qualifying performance by missing the Q1 cut, describing the session as "shit" according to the German press.
In total contrast, Grosjean was beaming: "A few people believed in me through the toughest time and I'm back -- almost at the top!"
The surprises continued beyond the top three: Mercedes' Michael Schumacher is fourth, and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel sixth.
"We are aware we need to improve," said Mark Webber, who qualified the sister Red Bull in fifth as both RB8 cars had KERS issues.
In much bigger strife is fabled Ferrari, with neither F2012 making it through to Q3. The two F2012s will face an uphill struggle, as Fernando Alonso (1:26.494) ended up stuck in a gravel trap shortly after the start of Q2 and starts from twelfth place, while Felipe Massa qualified sixteenth in 1:27.497. Sky analyst Martin Brundle described the handling of the F2012 as "horrible".
"Forget the reds," the summary report at Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport website, written by correspondent Andrea Cremonesi, said.
Said Spaniard Alonso: "We need to change the direction quickly if we're to challenge for the championship. We have to react."
Meanwhile, Lotus boss Eric Boullier answered "maybe" when asked on Sky UK television if the team will lodge an official protest against Mercedes' qualifying result, based on the belief the W03's F-duct solutions are illegal.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.922s 2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.074s + 0.152 3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m25.302s + 0.380 4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m25.336s + 0.414 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.651s + 0.729 6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.668s + 0.746 7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.686s + 0.764 8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m25.908s + 0.986 9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m26.451s + 1.529 10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time Q2 cut-off time: 1m26.319s Gap ** 11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.429s + 0.960 12. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m26.4942 + 1.025 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.590s + 1.121 14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m26.663s + 1.194 15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.086s + 1.617 16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m27.497s + 2.028 17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari No time Q1 cut-off time: 1m27.633s Gap * 18. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m27.758s + 1.576 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m28.679s + 2.497 20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m29.018s + 2.836 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m30.923s + 4.741 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m31.670s + 5.488 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m33.495s + 7.313 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m33.643s + 7.461 107% time: 1m32.214s * Gap to quickest in Q1 ** Gap to quickest in Q2
