Australian Grand Prix: Defending champion Hamilton on pole position

Mercedes driver finishes fastest in qualifying, followed by teammate Rosberg

MELBOURNE: World champion Lewis Hamilton scorched to pole position more than half-a-second faster than teammate Nico Rosberg as he led a Mercedes one-two at Australian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.

Hamilton's 39th career pole came from a dominating performance, with a sizzling lap time of one minute 26.327 seconds at Melbourne's Albert Park. It was his fourth pole in Australia as he bids to win for the first time in Melbourne since 2008.

Rosberg, who looked as if he would miss out on the front row after taking to the grass, hit back with a flying 1:26.921 final lap, still six-tenths off his fierce rival.

Brazilian Felipe Massa in a Williams was third fastest in 1:27.718, ahead of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel for his new Ferrari team.

Last year, Hamilton also started off the pole in Melbourne but was forced out with mechanical problems after just four laps. "Last year showed that even though I didn't win that first race, it wasn't the end of the world,” said Hamilton. "But of course the plan tomorrow is to have a better start to the season and today is the first step in that direction."

Rosberg, who went on to win last year's race, is optimistic about his chances even though he was significantly slower than Hamilton's best lap. “Races are always different [than qualifying] so maybe I can even turn it around tomorrow."

Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen was fifth ahead of Valtteri Bottas in a Williams and Australian Daniel Ricciardo struggled to keep up, finishing seventh in his Red Bull.

"Mercedes are in a different category," said Massa, reflecting the mood of the other teams. "For sure it's not great to see this difference, but we keep working, we keep fighting and I hope we can get as close as we can.”

Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) filled out the top 10.

 

Verstappen, McLaren fail to fire

Dutch teenager Max Verstappen, set to become the youngest ever Formula One driver at 17 years and 166 days in Sunday's race, was among the five drivers eliminated in Q2.

The struggling McLarens of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen both failed to make Q2 after finishing 16th and 17th in the first stage and will start on the back row of the race grid.

Button, a three-time Australian Grand Prix winner, was a substantial 2.836sec off the pace, emphasising the McLaren's problems since their incomplete off-season testing. The last time Button qualified as low as 17th was at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix.

 
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