Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were the main title protagonists in 2017 with things getting heated on occasion and that rivalry doesn't look to have ended this season as the pair cheekily traded blows in the post-qualifying press conference.
The top three of Hamilton, Vettel and Red Bull's Max Verstappen were covered by less than a tenth after they completed their first runs in Q3 as things appeared to be neck-and-neck, only for Hamilton to improve by a massive eight-tenths to blitz the field and secure pole for the Australian Grand Prix.
A much lauded 'party mode' was championed as the reason for Hamilton's gain in the final minutes, but the Briton denied he had any such setting.
"I can assure you, we don’t have a party mode," he said. "I use the same mode from Q2 to the end of Q3. There was no extra button, there was no extra button that I engaged."
That led to some antics between Vettel and Hamilton with the latter joking that he saved his pole lap to "wipe the smile off" his rivals face.
"Then what were you doing before?" asked Vettel, to which Hamilton responded: "I was waiting to put a good lap in. Wipe the smile off your face!"
The quick comment failed to catch Vettel's attention until it was later repeated to him.
"I think he said it so quick the first time I didn’t get it, so now I got it, thanks for repeating it," added the Ferrari driver. "I think what goes around comes around. At the end of the day that’s why we’re here, we want to have fun. If that’s what he enjoys, obviously on Saturdays he’s doing pretty well.
"He’s free to have a party tonight and then hopefully Kimi and myself will have a party tomorrow."
To which Hamilton added: "Kimi parties all the time so…"
