Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button expressed surprise at the scale of McLaren's superiority in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix after the team locked out the front row.
The Woking-based team dominated the final 10 minutes of qualifying at Albert Park with their British stars setting the two fastest times to fill out the front row of the grid.
Hamilton, who pipped Button by 0.152s to claim the 20th pole of his career, was predictably thrilled to get his season off to the best possible start as he aims to put the troubles of 2011 firmly behind him.
"It's an incredible feeling to be back up here, mine and Jenson's first one-two [on the grid for McLaren]," Hamilton said.
"A massive thanks to all the team who have worked incredibly hard over the winter.
"The race is now going to be incredibly tough and very intense, but the team now need to be on point, as do Jenson and I.
"Sunday is the most important day, but there's a lot to look forward to."
Coming off the back of two seasons of near total domination by Red Bull in qualifying, Hamilton admitted he was surprised by the gap back to the rest of the field - with Lotus's Romain Grosjean and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher proving the McLaren drivers nearest challengers as RBR lagged a surprising 0.7s adrift.
"I think we were all a bit surprised," Hamilton said.
"Myself, I always thought the Lotus was going to be very quick this weekend, which they are, but I'm surprised we're so fast. I knew we were going to be competitive this weekend but I didn't really know what to expect in terms of how close people would be."
Button, who predicted F1 was about to witness a "very exciting season" in wake of an unpredictable qualifying hour, said McLaren's strong winter had paid dividends so far.
"I think the team have done a fantastic job this winter. We knew that we had to have a good winter - it's something we've been lacking in the previous two years - and we definitely did have that," he said.
"Very happy to be here in the top two, front row, and hopefully we can race well from here tomorrow.
"I was actually a little bit surprised at the gap back to the Red Bulls and some of the other teams, but we'll definitely take that.
"The last two days here have been good for us, chipping away at the car, finding bits here and there. It's been a good couple of days and a great start to the season."
However, the experienced campaigner warned it would be unwise to write off the challenge of Red Bull so early on - although admitted McLaren would certainly try and make the most of the rivals underperformance for now.
"I think we did a very good job of getting the best out of ourselves this weekend, we've not really made many mistakes," Button added.
"I don't know what Red Bull have been up to - Sebastian [Vettel] obviously took a trip into the gravel this morning, which would have helped their preparations - but Red Bull haven't lost it. They are still going to be competitive and we can never forget that.
"But for the moment we're going to enjoy this moment and go out tomorrow and hopefully have a great race."
