Hamilton lays down marker for 2019 with pole run in Melbourne, pipping Bottas to lock out front row for Mercedes; Ferrari’s Vettel only good enough for P3 start in first race of new season

After the long, dark winter the new 2019 Formula 1 season began in earnest at the sunny Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday with the first qualifying session of the year at the now traditional opening weekend from down under. Proving that the more things change the more they stay the same, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton, the current reigning World Champion, snatched pole out of the hungry hands of his Finnish teammate, Valtteri Bottas. With Bottas entering his third year with the factory Mercedes team desperate to give Hamilton more of a challenge and shed his wingman reputation it looked midway through Q3 that he’d done enough to get the better of Lewis. But Hamilton marshaled a mighty final lap of just 1:22.043, good enough for the lap record, as well as the pole over his crestfallen teammate by a mere .012 seconds.

If Bottas was dismayed yet again by Hamilton’s unearthly quali pace Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel must also have had a sinking feeling of deja vu. After finishing second to Hamilton in the championship for the last two seasons and working under a new team boss after Maurizio Arrivabene was canned in favor of former technical director Mattia Binotto, Vettel could only have been disheartened to find the pace of this year’s model of Prancing Horse still wanting that certain bit of magic in comparison the peerless Silver Arrows. Vettel could do no better than P3 with a time some seven-tenths slower than his pole-sitting nemesis. Vettel’s new teammate Charles Leclerc, who made the leap from last year’s sister Sauber team to Ferrari’s second seat, displacing veteran Kimi Raikkonen in the process, acquitted himself very well with a solid P5 run his first time out of the chute. Leclerc was bested, though, by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who pushed his now-Honda powered chassis to the very edge and up to a P4 qualifying time. It was difficult to get a true read on Red Bull and their engine partners, however, as Verstappen’s new teammate Pierre Gasly, who was promoted from Toro Rosso, got caught out by rapidly improving track conditions in Q1 and was bounced with only the 17th fastest time in that first session. Look for a lot of passing from Gasly early in tomororw’s race as he looks to atone for that lackluster effort and show that team Red Bull made the right choice is letting Daniel Ricciardo to give him the first team drive.

Further down the order, the Haas F1 team made a strong opening bid to earn the “best of the rest” moniker, as the returning duo of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen qualified P6 and P7 respectively. McLaren rookie Lando Norris made quite the first impression by getting the eighth fastest time, well ahead of his veteran teammate Carlos Sainz, who will start way back in P18 after being impeded in Q1 when Williams’ Robert Kubica suffered a puncture. Raikkonen was also impressive in his first drive in anger since being demoted to the newly christened Alfa Romeo team (formerly Sauber and powered by Ferrari). The veteran Finn was able to pilot his car all the way up to a P9 start, far better than new teammate Antonio Giovanazzi’s P14 time. Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 qualifiers for the Australian Grand Prix by hustling his Mercedes-powered Racing Point (formerly Force India) car up to a P10 start.

Further down the grid the two factory Renualts had a disappointing day and missed out on Q3. Nico Hulkenberg bested his new teammate, former Red Bull man and native Australian favorite Daniel Ricciardo, P11 to P12. Torro Rosso rookie Alexander Albon outdrove his more experienced teammate Daniil Kvyat, who returned to F1 after a year’s absence, P13 to P15. And it looks like it could be another long year for Willliams as rookie George Russell and longtime F1 driver Robert Kubica will start from the back of the grid in P19 and P20 respectively. Kubica is making his return to F1 competition after a nasty rally injury nearly cost him his arm and led to 9 years of working his way back to Formula 1. Even in an uncompetitive car, you’ve got root for a guy who would push himself to get back to the highest level of motorsport after undergoing such an ordeal. Let’s hope he can acquit himself well after all this time away.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Australian GP:

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Notes: In very sad news, long time F1 Race Director Charlie Whiting died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism on Thursday just as the season was set get underway. After working at Hesketh in the 1970s and at Brabham with Bernie Ecclestone in the early 1980s, Whiting joined the FIA in 1988. He had been F1’s Race Director since 1997. He was 66-years-old.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN starting at 1AM Eastern time here in the States. So set your DVR or brew that late night pot of coffee because you won’t want to miss the first Formula 1 race of the year to find if anyone has anything for Hamilton in the early going of 2019.