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The final Briton on the grid, Haas driver Oliver Bearman, will start last after a difficult weekend.
His gearbox failed on his first lap out of the pits in qualifying, after a crash in second practice and a spin into the gravel in the final session cost him track time at the start of his first full season.
Of the six rookies on the grid, the most impressive performance came from Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, who out-qualified his experienced Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg with 15th place, the German two spots further back.
Norris was pleased by his performance but his main concern was the race, for which rain is predicted.
He said: “It’s the perfect way to start the year. Everyone at McLaren has done an amazing job to start with a one-two but it’s just qualifying, let’s see tomorrow, it’s going to be a tricky race but this is a good way to start.
“The car is extremely quick and when you put it together it’s unbelievable but it’s difficult to put together.
“Particularly after the first lap, when I went off and lost my lap, you’re in a tricky position – you need to risk it but not go too far because you can’t make a mistake. It’s a difficult balance. We know how quick Max and Red Bull are in the rain.”
Verstappen said he did not believe he could have made the difference to beat the McLarens even with a perfect lap.
“Yesterday was quite tough so to be in P3, I take that,” he said. “The qualifying laps were very exciting, a lot of good grip around here and some fast corners so that’s always very fun in an F1 car.
“In the end the gap was quite big to them so it wouldn’t have made a difference in terms of position. Wet or dry, I don’t mind, but in the wet a lot of crazy things can happen.”
Bearman rued his errors in practice as he digested his weekend so far.
“I made my life very difficult by performing badly, not up to standard, in the practice sessions and the issue with the gearbox pretty much sums up the weekend,” he said.
