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.