Wet & wild Qualifying Down Under for the first race of the 2014 season and the first test in anger for the new equipment. See how the boys did in Melbourne below the fold…
Hamilton Takes Pole & Rosberg is 3rd for Mercedes; Native Son Ricciardo 2nd but Champ Vettel a lowly 13th for Red Bull
The suspicion that the Mercedes factory team had the jump on everyone under the radically new technical regulations was bourn out as Lewis Hamilton snatched his 32nd career pole position, tying another British great, Nigel Mansell, for 6th all-time in that category. In wet conditions and on the full wet tires, Hamilton just pipped Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who gambled on inters in front of a partisan home crowd, by just a touch over .3 seconds as time ran out on Q3. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg bagged a sold 3rd position for Sunday’s starting grid.
Meanwhile, Ricciardo’s Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel had an uncharacteristically poor Qualifying and could not get out of Q2 for the first time in 27 Grands Prix. The German has not seemed to enjoy the twitchy handling characteristics of his new chassis with the increased torque and reduced downforce demanded by the technical regulations this year. The 4-time consecutive World Champion will start from an ignominious 13th position on the grid and has his work cut out for him come Sunday.
Emphasizing the topsy turvy nature of heavy rain on a Melbourne circuit that is normally public roads, McLaren’s rookie #2 Kevin Magnussen came home an impressive 4th while his veteran teamate, former World Champion Jenson Button, could do no better than 11th. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso grabbed a respectable 5th while new Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen crashed out late in Q2 and had to settle for 12th on his return to the Prancing Horse. The two Scuderia Torro Rossos, equipped with Ferrari engines, had very strong runs, with French holdover Jean-Eric Vergne taking 6th and the 19-year-old Russian rookie Daniel Kvyat finishing a very impressive 8th in his first true F1 action. Williams also had reason to smile with hopes for a bounce back season after their disastrous 2013 campaign, as Ferrari’s former longtime #2 Filipe Masa and his young Finnish teammate Valeri Bottas claimed 9th and 10th on the grid respectively.
Top 10 Qualifying times below and complete results available at Formula1.com.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:31.699 | 1:42.890 | 1:44.231 | 22 |
| 2 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:30.775 | 1:42.295 | 1:44.548 | 20 |
| 3 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:32.564 | 1:42.264 | 1:44.595 | 21 |
| 4 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:30.949 | 1:43.247 | 1:45.745 | 19 |
| 5 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:31.388 | 1:42.805 | 1:45.819 | 21 |
| 6 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 1:33.488 | 1:43.849 | 1:45.864 | 21 |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:33.893 | 1:43.658 | 1:46.030 | 20 |
| 8 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 1:33.777 | 1:44.331 | 1:47.368 | 20 |
| 9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:31.228 | 1:44.242 | 1:48.079 | 21 |
| 10 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:31.601 | 1:43.852 | 1:48.147 | 19 |
Set your DVRs unless you’re planning an all-nighter because coverage of tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix begins overnight here on the East Coast at 2AM — you can catch all the action on NBC Sports here in the States. Conditions are expected to be drier but the race action will probably just as chaotic as drivers and teams come to grips with these new low growling and tail-happy beasts and finally go wheel-to-wheel for glory in the first race of the F1 season.