Hamilton takes 2014 Australian GP pole position
Ricciardo in P2, Rosberg P3. Button, Vettel and Raikkonen out in Q2.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has grabbed the first pole position of the 2014 season in an eventful and rain-hit qualifying session ahead of Sunday’s season opener Grand Prix in Albert Park, Australia.
Hamilton clocked a best time of 1:44.231 on full wet Pirelli tyres, beating by 0.317 seconds local hero Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull (1:44.548, intermediate tyres).
Team-mate Nico Rosberg ended up third (1:44.595) ahead of McLaren’s rookie Kevin Magnussen (1:45.745), Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (1:45.817), Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne (1:45.864) and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg (1:46.030).
Toro Rosso’s rookie Daniil Kvyat (1:47.368) ended his Q3 session prematurely after crashing between Turn 10 and Turn 11 but qualified 8th and was followed by Williams’ Martini duo with Felipe Massa (1:48.079) ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas (1:48.147) who is carrying a 5-place gearbox penalty.
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel failed to enter Q3 by qualifying 13th as he, and several other drivers, were unable to improve their lap times following yellow flags caused by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen crash at the exit of Turn 3.
*Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez, will drop five places on Sunday’s grid following gearbox change penalties.
2014 Australian Grand Prix, Qualifying Session results:
Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:31.699 | 1:42.890 | 1:44.231 | 22 |
2 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:30.775 | 1:42.295 | 1:44.548 | 20 |
3 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:32.564 | 1:42.264 | 1:44.595 | 21 |
4 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:30.949 | 1:43.247 | 1:45.745 | 19 |
5 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:31.388 | 1:42.805 | 1:45.819 | 21 |
6 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 1:33.488 | 1:43.849 | 1:45.864 | 21 |
7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:33.893 | 1:43.658 | 1:46.030 | 20 |
8 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 1:33.777 | 1:44.331 | 1:47.368 | 20 |
9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:31.228 | 1:44.242 | 1:48.079 | 21 |
10 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas* | Williams-Mercedes | 1:31.601 | 1:43.852 | 1:48.147 | 19 |
11 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:31.396 | 1:44.437 | 13 | |
12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:32.439 | 1:44.494 | 13 | |
13 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:31.931 | 1:44.668 | 13 | |
14 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:33.673 | 1:45.655 | 12 | |
15 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1:34.274 | 1:45.867 | 13 | |
16 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:34.141 | 1:47.293 | 13 | |
17 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:34.293 | 5 | ||
18 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:34.794 | 5 | ||
19 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez* | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:35.117 | 7 | ||
20 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1:35.157 | 5 | ||
21 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:36.993 | 6 | ||
22 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | ||||
Q1 107% Time | 1:37.129 |