2018 Australia GP – Qualifying

Saturday 24th March 2018.

Provisional starting grid – At time of publishing

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’21.164
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +0.664
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +0.674
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.715
5 Kevin Magnussen Haas +2.023
6 Romain Grosjean Haas +2.175
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault +2.368
8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +0.988*
9 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault +2.413
10 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes No time set

Eliminated following Q2

11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1’23.692
12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1’23.853
13 Sergio Perez Force India 1’24.005
14 Lance Stroll Williams 1’24.230
15 Esteban Ocon Force India 1’24.786

Eliminated following Q1

16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1’24.532
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1’24.556
18 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1’24.636
19 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1’24.922
20 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1’25.295

* Daniel Ricciardo has received a three place grid penalty for a red flag incident during practice.

After the first round of the shoot-out for pole position, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen were separated by just 0.06 of a second.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo were also within touching distance.

But as Hamilton took his final shot at pole position, everything clicked and he blew away the competition finding over half a second on his rivals. A sensational lap, by the four-time Formula One World Champion.