A McLaren star’s Australian Grand Prix weekend has gone from bad to worse after they were issued a penalty ahead of Formula 1’s first race of the season.
Norris had his first lap time deleted during Q3, and a mistake on Oscar Piastri's opening lap meant he failed to string together a competitive enough time to beat Max Verstappen, despite their early advantage around Albert Park.
On their final attempt however, Piastri went quickest, but was beaten to pole at his home race by his team-mate who edged ahead of him and set the fastest time by +0.084 secs.
Lando Norris claimed pole in MelbourneOscar Piastri missed out on pole position at his home race
McLaren star Badoer endures F3 nightmare in Australia
Elsewhere in Melbourne one McLaren star endured a nightmare weekend, with development driver Brando Badoer, son of former F1 driver Luca Badoer, crashing in qualifying and then receiving a penalty ahead of the Formula 3 sprint race.
Brando Badoer is part of McLaren's young driver programme
However, the FIA issued a penalty to the young McLaren star for his qualifying mistake, stating that he was solely responsible for a red flag and therefore in breach of Article 33.5 of the FIA Formula 3 Sporting Regulations.
The rule states that “any driver whose car stops on the track during the qualifying practice session will not be permitted to take any further part in the session”, and the Italian rookie lost his lap time and thus his P19 spot on the grid.
As a result all the drivers who qualified below Badoer have moved up a place, for both the sprint race and Sunday’s feature race in Melbourne.