Motorsport Week provides a round-up of Saturday’s Australian Grand Prix action as reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton opens his 2018 account with an imperious pole position.
After a final practice session disrupted by previous rainfall, dry and predominantly sunny conditions prevailed for the three-part qualifying hour.
The leading contenders all safely progressed through to Q3 – but Valtteri Bottas crashed out early, and is set to drop to 15th on the grid due to a gearbox change.
An initially close three-way fight for bragging rights was eventually turned into a one-man show as an imperious Hamilton claimed pole position, his fifth in a row in Australia, and 73rd overall.
Hamilton reckoned his lap was close to perfection as he held a mammoth gap of six-tenths back to Ferrari, whose drivers nonetheless believe the Briton can be challenged in race trim.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were left slightly deflated, the former due to a minor error, the latter because of his grid penalty, dropping him to eighth on the grid.
Ricciardo’s demotion and Bottas’ error opened the door for Haas to build on its pre-season and practice promise, locking out the third row of the grid, its best qualifying result to date.
Renault had both cars in Q3, while McLaren and Force India both fell in Q2, though both teams exuded confidence at making gains in race trim.
Toro Rosso, Sauber and Williams debutant Sergey Sirotkin dropped out in the first knockout segment, though the Swiss team was at least in the mix after Friday struggles.
Sunday’s 58-lap season-opener will begin at 16:10 local time (05:10 GMT)
