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Australian GP: Hamilton takes first pole of F1 2017

Lewis Hamilton will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole position, as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel beat Valtteri Bottas to the other front row starting spot.

Polesitter: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, second place Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, third place Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1

Polesitter: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, second place Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, third place Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1

XPB Images

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H
Lance Stroll, Williams FW40
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Lance Stroll, Williams FW40
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Fernando Alonso, McLaren
Lance Stroll, Williams FW40
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Nicole Kidman with Jackie Stewart, and the Ferrari team
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB13

Hamilton was three tenths up on Vettel after the first runs in Q3, with Bottas just two thousandths of a second slower in third, before Daniel Ricciardo crashed his Red Bull heavily at Turn 14, causing the session to be stopped while marshals cleared the wreckage.

Hamilton went even faster on his final run once the session resumed, sealing pole position with a 1m22.188s lap – the fastest ever recorded by an F1 car around Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit.

Bottas initially moved up to second despite a scruffy final flying lap, before Vettel denied Mercedes a front row lockout by posting the second-fastest time on his final run.

Despite setting the pace in final practice, Ferrari ultimately didn’t quite have the speed to challenge the best of the Mercedes, with Vettel 0.268s down on Hamilton, but fractionally quicker than Bottas.

The second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest, more than half a second further back, while the remaining Red Bull of Max Verstappen claimed fifth.

Romain Grosjean produced a stunning effort to qualify his Haas inside the top six, nearly four tenths clear of Felipe Massa’s Williams.

Massa was just 0.044s clear of Carlos Sainz Jr, who in turn narrowly beat Toro Rosso teammate Daniil Kvyat to eighth on the grid.

Ricciardo wound up 10th after failing to set a time.

Neither Force India made it through to Q3. Sergio Perez, who complained of a gearshift problem, missed the cut by just 0.074s despite improving by nearly four tenths on his final flying lap, while Esteban Ocon failed to find time on his final run and wound up 14th.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified 12th fastest on his debut for the works Renault team, only 0.010s down on Perez, while Fernando Alonso manhandled the troubled McLaren-Honda to the 13th best time, ahead of Ocon and Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber.

Last-minute Sauber stand-in Antonio Giovinazzi was 16th fastest, after replacing the unfit Pascal Wehrlein ahead of final practice.

The Ferrari reserve was quicker than Ericsson after the first runs in Q1, but went off at the penultimate corner on his final effort. He ended up 0.183s down and failed to make the Q2 cut.

Kevin Magnussen’s difficult first weekend racing for Haas continued, the Dane running off track on his final Q1 flier and failing to improve his time.

He was fractionally faster than the second McLaren-Honda of Stoffel Vandoorne, who completed only one flying lap in qualifying after a fuel-flow problem forced him to return to the pits for most of the session.

Williams repaired rookie Lance Stroll’s car in time to make a late appearance in Q1, following his heavy crash at the end of FP3.

The Canadian was 19th fastest, though faces a grid penalty for a gearbox change ahead of the session, while Renault’s Jolyon Palmer qualified slowest of the 20 runners, more than a second down on Stroll and over three adrift of Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg.

Australian GP grid

PosDriverChassisTimeGap
1 united_kingdom  Lewis Hamilton  Mercedes 1'22.188  
2 germany  Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari 1'22.456 0.268
3 finland  Valtteri Bottas  Mercedes 1'22.481 0.293
4 finland  Kimi Raikkonen  Ferrari 1'23.033 0.845
5 netherlands  Max Verstappen  Red Bull 1'23.485 1.297
6 france  Romain Grosjean  Haas 1'24.074 1.886
7 brazil  Felipe Massa  Williams 1'24.443 2.255
8 spain  Carlos Sainz Jr.  Toro Rosso 1'24.487 2.299
9 russia  Daniil Kvyat  Toro Rosso 1'24.512 2.324
10 australia  Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull no Q3 time  
11 mexico  Sergio Perez  Force India 1'25.081 2.893
12 germany  Nico Hulkenberg  Renault 1'25.091 2.903
13 spain  Fernando Alonso  McLaren 1'25.425 3.237
14 france  Esteban Ocon  Force India 1'25.568 3.380
15 sweden  Marcus Ericsson  Sauber 1'26.465 4.277
16 italy  Antonio Giovinazzi  Sauber 1'26.419 4.231
17 denmark  Kevin Magnussen  Haas 1'26.847 4.659
18 belgium  Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren 1'26.858 4.670
19 united_kingdom  Jolyon Palmer  Renault 1'28.244 6.056
20 canada  Lance Stroll  Williams 1'27.143* 4.955

* – includes grid penalty

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