2014 Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying Report: Hamilton on Pole with Ricciardo close behind, Vettel misses out

The weather was overcast for the first Qualifying session of 2014 with the threat of rain becoming a real possibility. Rosberg, Button and Alonso took the Top 3 positions in FP3, meaning it was looking good for the Mercedes and Ferrari-powered teams.

Before qualifying had even begun, there were issues aplenty for two drivers in particular. Valtteri Bottas, suffered a gearbox issue which forced the Finn to change it and take a 5-place grid penalty. Esteban Gutierrez also suffered similar problems, meaning his Sauber would be further down the field also.

A queue of cars sat at the pit-exit waiting for the lengthened session to start, it was the two Mercedes' who were first out onto the circuit.

After a lack of running all weekend, Lotus were clearly feeling the strain after sending Romain Grosjean straight out onto a set of soft tyres. Williams' Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel also followed suit.

Hamilton was the first driver to set a fast lap, however various drivers including the likes of Massa, Magnussen and Ricciardo quickly bettered it.

Vettel and Grosjean were on the ragged edge throughout Q1, with the former making light contact with the wall coming out of Turn 9 and the latter having an off-track excursion in Turn 12.

With just under 8 minutes remaining, the rain began to fall, meaning it would be highly unlikely for drivers to significantly improve their laptimes. The order from 17th to 22nd was as follows: Chilton, Bianchi, Gutierrez, Ericcson, Grosjean and Maldonado. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Kamui Kobayashi sitting in 16th.

And so it turned out to be, with drivers having little option but to run on intermediate tyres and the track being covered in water, the order did not change meaning that for the first time since Belgium last year, a Caterham got into a Q2 session.

With a lack of running on the Intermediate tyre, the second qualifying session was a step completely into the unknown. The cars once again formed a queue at the end of the pit-lane and Bottas was quickly followed by the majority of the other cars onto the now wet circuit.

The Finn was first to set a timed lap of a 1.47.8, quickly bettered by Massa, Ricciardo and Rosberg. It became apparent that drivers were struggling with the increased amounts of torque with cars snapping at the rear-end when on the power, even when going down the main straight in 7th gear.

Ferrari looked to have the upper-hand over Mercedes in these difficult conditions. Hulkenberg's Force India, Vergne's Toro Rosso and Magnussen's McLaren all looked at ease in the conditions, all setting quick laptimes with less than 5 minutes left.

It appeared as if it would be a case of being the last man over the line, with every driver who finished a flying lap all improving in grid position. However, this theory would not include Raikkonen after he had heavy contact with the wall coming out of Turn 3.

With laptimes improving by the second, Vettel and Button were caught out and failed to make it into Q3. The order from 11th to 16th was as follows: Button, Raikkonen, Vettel, Sutil, Kobayashi and Perez. Due to this, both Toro Rosso's of Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne did make it through, as well as the rookie Magnussen out-qualifying his team-mate.

For Q3, it was apparent that full Wet tyres would be the call of the day after the intensity of the rain continued to increase. The newly-lengthened 12 minute session saw an unusual flurry of cars straight out with Rosberg spear-heading them.

The German set a banker lap of a 1.45.550, which was bettered only by Lewis Hamilton in the early stages and the other seven drivers slotted in behind him.

The tyre changes were made, all drivers opted for full Wet tyres aside from Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo, something which would appear to be a mistake after Rosberg went straight off moments later.

Alast minute mistake this time from Daniil Kvyat who, like Raikkonen collided with the wall and this denied the Russian chance to improve on his fastest lap. Yellow flags were not brought out.

Rosberg had improved on his laptime in the final minute only for it to be bettered by the home-town hero Ricciardo which was met by an eruption from the crowd. Moments later though Hamilton crossed the line and beat the Australian's time by 0.3 tenths to the delight of the Mercedes crew.

It was a disappointing end to such a promising session for Williams, Massa and Bottas could only fnish in 9th and 10th, beaten by the stranded Kvyat. Contrasting this to fortunes of Magnussen who completed the session in 4th and Hulkberg who finished in 7th and the Grove-based team will be trying hard to improve their performance for tomorrow.

With uncertain weather conditions once again for tomorrow as well as a trip into the unknown for the likes of Lotus and Red Bull regarding race simulations, the Australian Grand Prix is certainly set to be an absolute cracker.

The race gets underway at 17.00 Local Time (06.00 GMT).

Tom Brooks
Chief UK Editor