It will be an all Mercedes front row for the Australian Grand Prix tomorrow as Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position on Saturday. Putting in a 1:20.486 lap, the British driver set a new best lap for the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. Qualifying behind by 0.112s, Valtteri Bottas will start on the front row as well. The second row will have Sebastian Vettel from Ferrari and Max Verstappen from Red Bull Racing. Charles Leclerc from Ferrari placed fifth with the two Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen placing sixth and seventh. The other Red Bull driver, Pierre Gasly, placed 17th.
Q1
In the first qualifying session, it was Charles Leclerc who got first place, beating both Mercedes drivers who were holding the place before. Williams were in the bottom two places during Q1 with Robert Kubica going into the grass during a hot lap. Lance Stroll was knocked into 16th place in the final minutes of the session. Sebastian Vettel made it through to Q2 in Medium tyres, as opposed to most of the grid who drove in Softs.
Q2
In Q2 it was Renault drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo who came the closest to moving on but failed. The two Toro Rosso drivers Alexander Albon and Daniil Kvyat also did get eliminated. Antonio Giovinazzi was eliminated while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen moved on.
Q3
Before Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position with his record lap, Valtteri Bottas also set a track record with a 1:20.598 lap. Vettel placed third but has a 0.704 gap to the top lap. Sergio Perez drove the slowest lap in Q3, being 2.295s behind Hamilton.
Mercedes hopes to use their front row lockout to their highest potential tomorrow when the Australian Grand Prix takes place. The broadcast starts at 1 AM EST.
JackWannan.com 