Lewis Hamilton took a commanding pole for the Australian Grand Prix, as Mercedes mastered Formula 1’s controversial new qualifying format.
Hamilton cruised to the 50th pole of his F1 career, posting a 1m23.837s in Q3 to secure the top spot, 0.360s clear of Mercedes team-mate and rival Nico Rosberg.
New rules for 2016 mandated drivers would be eliminated at 90 second intervals in the second half of each qualifying segment, but the concept backfired when put into practice.
While the opening minutes of Q1 saw plenty of on-track action, Q2 was quiet and Q3 was a disaster, as only Mercedes opted to attempt two runs.
Ferrari locked out the second row of the grid, Sebastian Vettel 0.838s shy of Hamilton’s pole time, but ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Max Verstappen secured a career best fifth on the grid for Toro Rosso, ahead of Felipe Massa, Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniel Ricciardo.
Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg failed to make it into the new-style Q3, eliminated in the closing minutes of the second part of qualifying.
Valtteri Bottas was another driver who failed to make it out of Q2, after an error at the final corner confined him to 11th on the grid.
The two McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, and the works Renaults of F1 rookie Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen, were all eliminated in Q2, after each driver opted against completing a second run.
Neither Sauber managed to make it out of Q1, with Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, 16th and 17th respectively.
Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat was the major casualty of the elimination format, failing to progress from Q1 in 18th.
Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez were 19th and 20th, as Haas appeared to send its two drivers out too late to set an improved time.
Rio Haryanto outqualified his highly rated team-mate and fellow F1 rookie Pascal Wehrlein, but will start 22nd after picking up a penalty for a hitting Grosjean in the pits during final practice.
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