Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has taken pole position for the Australian Grand Prix ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg.
It is the Englishman’s 50th career pole, meaning he becomes the third driver in the sport’s history to reach the landmark, alongside Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Rosberg was denied a seventh consecutive pole.
The main story of the event, however, was the execution of the new qualifying format. It received much criticism, with some teams missing out on laps due to the time constraints of a constant 90-second knockout.
On the track, Ferrari completed a second-row lock-out with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finishing third and fourth. The expected pace of the Toro Rosso was confirmed as Max Verstappen claimed more plaudits by taking fifth, ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa.
Verstappen’s teammate Carlos Sainz finished seventh, while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth.
Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg qualified in ninth and tenth, the last drivers to be eliminated in Q2.
However, there was a shock in each of the first two qualifying sessions.
Williams’ Valtteri Bottas could only claim 11th place, ahead of the McLaren’s of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button and the Renault’s of Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen.
Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat became the big shock of Q1, qualifying only 18th. The Russian was joined by the two Sauber’s of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr and the Haas’ of Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.
Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein became the first man to be eliminated in this form of qualifying and will start 21st. His teammate Rio Haryanto, qualified 21st, but was given a three-place grid penalty for colliding with Romain Grosjean in third practice, and will start last.
