2016 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Qualifying results

The 2016 Formula 1 season is finally upon us! Qualifying for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix has already taken place down under and featured the preview of F1’s somewhat byzantine new elimination rules. By messing with something that clearly wasn’t broken, the series is taking a big risk that this new lap speed elimination format, where slower cars are eliminated during the qualifying session itself rather than when time expires at the end of the session, will force more teams to run harder earlier. But if what we saw today was any indication, it will more likely lead to the two fastest cars pounding around out there on for a huge chunk of Q3.* That being said, here’s how they qualified at Albert park in Melbourne.

Mercedes & Hamilton still dominant at dawn of new season; Rosberg continues chasing the champ at P2 & Ferrari’s Vettel a familiar P3; Verstappen poised to break out for Toro Rosso with impressive P5

POS. NO. DRIVER TEAM TIME LAPS
1 44 LEWIS HAMILTON  MERCEDES 1:23.837 14
2 6 NICO ROSBERG  MERCEDES 1:24.197 13
3 5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL  FERRARI 1:24.675 14
4 7 KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN  FERRARI 1:25.033 13
5 33 MAX VERSTAPPEN  TORO ROSSO 1:25.434 12
6 19 FELIPE MASSA  WILLIAMS 1:25.458 12
7 55 CARLOS SAINZ  TORO ROSSO 1:25.582 14
8 3 DANIEL RICCIARDO  RED BULL RACING 1:25.589 15
9 11 SERGIO PEREZ  FORCE INDIA 1:25.753 12
10 27 NICO HULKENBERG  FORCE INDIA 1:25.865 14

Complete Qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

*In fact after the unsatisfying Quali in Australia F1 announced they would revert to the 2015 rules for the next race in Bahrain. Lesson quickly learned…

Tomorrow’s race airs live on NBC Sports at 1AM Eastern with pre-race coverage starting at Midnight.