With Formula 1 returning this weekend for the first race of the 2017 season, Lewis Hamilton will start on pole position for the Australian Grand Prix. This pole position marks Hamilton’s sixth in Australia and 62nd in his career. Sebastian Vettel will start alongside Hamilton in second while Valtteri Bottas will start in third for Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton claims Pole Position for Australian Grand Prix Qualifying
Qualifying 1
In the first qualifying session of the Australian Grand Prix, Mercedes were the pace setters, with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest lap of the session, followed by Kimi Raikkonen. Q1 marked the exit of five drivers on the grid, with only 15 progressing to Q2. Qualifying in 16th place was Antonio Giovinazzi for Sauber, being pushed out of the first session of qualifying by his team mate, Marcus Ericsson. In his final lap, the Italian F1 rookie was up on his previous best lap, however, made a mistake going into the final corner, causing him to abort the lap. Kevin Magnussen followed Giovinazzi in 17th for Haas F1. Stoffel Vandoorne will start the Australian Grand Prix in 18th place for McLaren after having limited running in Q1 caused by a fuel flow issue. Lance Stroll finished the session in 19th place in his qualifying debut, however will start in 20th place after receiving a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox following his accident in practice 3. Jolyon Palmer rounded out the session in 20th place for Renault, having very limited running over the course of the last two days caused by a number of issues.
Qualifying 2
Mercedes’ performance continued in Qualifying 2, with Valtteri Bottas topping the time sheets, closely followed by Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari cars closely followed Mercedes in third and fourth place. Qualifying 2 again marked the elimination of five drivers, narrowing the grid down to ten drivers for the Q3 shootout. Qualifying in 11th place was Sergio Perez, being the highest qualifying Force India in the first qualifying session of 2017. Following Perez was Nico Hulkenberg for Renault who will start the Australian Grand Prix in 12th place. Fernando Alonso qualified in an impressive 13th place for McLaren and will start the race ahead of the second Force India of Esteban Ocon who will start in 14th place. Marcus Ericsson finished the session in 15th place and slowest of all of the cars in Q2.
Qualifying 3
Lewis Hamilton’s pace continued into Qualifying 3, meaning that he will start on pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, marking his 62nd career pole and sixth in Australia.
Hamilton’s pole position lap time can be watched here: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mtjC9DozXs[/youtube]
Starting alongside Hamilton on the front row of the grid will be Sebastian Vettel, who starts on the front row for the first time since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas qualified in third place and will be followed to the grid tomorrow by Kimi Raikkonen who will line up on the grid in fourth place. Max Verstappen qualified in fifth place for Red Bull Racing while Romain Grsojean qualified in sixth place for Haas F1 – a very impressive result for the Frenchman. Felipe Massa qualified in eighth place for Williams, followed by the two Toro Rosso drivers of Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniil Kvyat in eighth and ninth place. Home-hero Daniel Ricciardo qualified in tenth place for Red Bull Racing, being unable to set a lap after spinning his car in turn 14 and making contact with the wall, bringing about a very early end to the Australian’s qualifying. Due to the damage sustained in the accident however, Ricciardo could face a five place grid penalty in the event of the gearbox being damaged.
Ricciardo’s crash can be watched here: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ7jRhWnNJk[/youtube]
Qualifying Results for the Australain Grand Prix:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:22.188
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:22.456
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1:22.481
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:23.033
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1:23.485
- Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 1:24.074
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:24.443
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1:24.487
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:24.512
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, No time
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:25.081 (Q2)
- Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1:25.091 (Q2)
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:25.425 (Q2)
- Esteban Ocon, Force India, 1:25.568 (Q2)
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:26.465 (Q2)
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Sauber, 1:26.419 (Q1)
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1, 1:26.847 (Q1)
- Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 1:26.858 (Q1)
- Lance Stroll, Williams, 1:27.143 (Q1) + 5 positions
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:28.244 (Q1)
Main Photo
