Hamilton denies Ricciardo pole

Lewis Hamilton is on pole position for the inaugural race of 2014, setting the fastest time at Melbourne Park to start the newest era of V6 turbocharged Formula 1 engines. Hamilton set the fastest time of 1:44.231 ahead of second placed Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull Racing RB10 and Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg in third.

On Thursday, just one day before the first free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, the FIA approved a set of changes that would apply to Qualifying on each Saturday of a race weekend, changing the format for 2014.

Each driver that makes it through to Q3 will be supplied with an additional set of Pirelli’s option tyre, which is to be returned to Pirelli at the end of the session. This rule was implemented to stop drivers opting not to run in Q3 in order to preserve tyres for the race the following day. This was tactic was seen many times over the past few seasons.

Q1 has been shortened to 18 minutes, whist Q3 was extended to 12 minutes in order to allow time for all competitors to run in the final session and all drivers who make it through to Q3 will have to use the Pirelli tyres they used to set their best time in Q2. The changes have been made and approved in order to provide Formula 1 fans with more of a ‘show’ on Saturday.

Too add to the new formatting, the weather in Australia on Saturday made for extra entertainment. With the threat of rain hitting the track over the course of the hour’s session, Q3 got off to a busy start with teams and drivers alike looking to put a fast lap in early just in case the rain came. Just six minutes into the new 18 minute session 20 of the 22 drivers had registered an official lap time. Another six minutes later and the rain had started, leaving cars crawling around the track to recover to their respective garage as grip levels fell quickly with the diminishing track temperature.

Sauber were then the only team to venture back onto the wet track, using Esteban Gutierrez as a guinea pig to test the balance of the car in the wet. As the chequered flag fell on Q1, the season got off to a slow start with the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado placing dead last in 21st and 22nd place. Ahead of them is Caterham’s Magnus Ericsson and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez. Marussia’s 2014 campaign, aided by the weather, sees second year drivers Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi get off to a stronger start than last year and the pair will start 17th and 18th respectively.

For note; Gutierrez came into qualifying today with a 5 place grid penalty, so will actually start tomorrow’s race in last place behind the two Lotus.

Q2 was no different to Q3 in terms of cars on track – with rain still falling, drivers were quick to hit the circuit with intermediates or even full wet tyres to get a lap in as quickly as possible. Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi made it into the second qualifying session of the day on his return to Formula 1 after a year out of the sport, but would find himself well off the pace of the front runners in Q2. Nonetheless, Caterham and Kobayashi will be pleased to start the first Grand Prix of the season from P15 tomorrow.

Further excitement for the fans with just under a minute before the end of the session when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen put his Ferrari in the wall, unable to keep the Ferrari under control in the damp conditions. This brought a yellow flag to the qualifying session, ruining the fast laps of those already on track fighting for a position in Q3, including 2013’s World Champion Sebastian Vettel. Slow to take to the track, Vettel was unable to piece together a fast lap in the dying second of Q2 and crossed the line fast enough to qualify in just thirteenth place, much to the delight of the Australian Grand Prix audience.

At the end of the session, Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen also found themselves unable to make it into Q3. Button will start in 11th whilst Raikkonen, unable to go any faster thanks to his crash, will start ahead of Vettel in 12th. Adrian Sutil start alongside Vettel in P14 whilst Sergio Perez’s Force India is sixteenth.

This left just Q1 left for the top ten to fight over the premium track positions and with the track still soaked, drivers took to the track with caution to test the conditions. With an extra set of Pirelli tyres available to the teams and drivers in this session, those in Q1 were keen to use the extra rubber, and extra two minutes, to establish whether intermediate or full wet tyres would be optimum for the quickest flying lap.

Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg set the early pace, locking out the front row with just four minutes left in qualifying whilst using full wet Pirelli tyres. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took to the track earlier with a set of intermediates on and the others were soon to follow, putting the intermediate’s on with 3 minutes left in the session. At the same time, Fernando Alonso then changed to the wet tyre, proving that driving experience would prove the best drivers in the wet conditions.

Ultimately, both tyre options would be the right choice, and it would be up to the drivers to choose which would best suit them. Pole positions’ Lewis Hamilton qualified on the full wet tyre, as did teammate and third placed Nico Rosberg. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo opted for the intermediate.

In his debut with the McLaren team, Kevin Magnussen qualified in fourth with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso just behind in fifth place. Jean-Eric Vergne put the Toro Rosso into sixth whilst Hulkenberg placed seventh in the Force India.

Daniel Kvyat, who impressed all reached Q3 in his first Formula 1 race weekend, finished the session early after putting the car into the wall and breaking the rear left suspension. He will start tomorrow from eighth place with Williams Racing’s Felipe Massa just behind. Valtteri Bottas qualified in tenth, but will start from 15th after being handed a five place grid penalty, moving McLaren’s Jenson Button into tenth place for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

The 2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix starts tomorrow, March 16 at 17.00 local time.

Final lap times and qualification positions are as follows: