THE McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button locked out the front row of the grid in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was .152 seconds faster than his team-mate - but both drivers look to be in a good shape for tomorrow's race.

In a qualifying full of surprises Lotus's Romain Grosjean an impressive third fastest ahead of Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher.

Red Bull's impressive pace during winter testing appears to have deserted the team. The best Mark Webber and Sebastian could manage were fifth and sixth.

Ferrari struggled, with Fernando Alonso 12th and Felipe Massa 16th.

Hamilton set his best time on his initial run in qualifying, when he was a massive 0.7secs faster than his rivals.

However, Button came close to beating him, only losing out following a small mistake at Turn 14.

Ferrari's lacklustre performance confirmed the impression, from pre-season testing and the practice sessions here this weekend, that there is something seriously amiss with the team's car.

Alonso spun off at Turn One after his first run in second qualifying. Massa managed both his planned runs in the session but was a second slower and 16th.