Australian Grand Prix 2016 Qualifying: Saturday's F1 Results, Times, Final Grid
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton secured his first pole position of the new Formula One season, the 50th of his career, beating Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to the top starting spot at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.
The controversial new qualifying format was introduced on Saturday, and while the first session produced the fireworks Formula One's chiefs were undoubtedly hoping for, the final session showed exactly why fans aren't happy with the new system―Hamilton and Rosberg both spent the final minutes in the pit lane, per Byron Young of the Daily Mirror:
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Under the new rules, an elimination clock is introduced after a few minutes into every session, with the slowest car dropping out of qualifying every 90 seconds. Only eight drivers advance to the third and final session.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel will start the Australian Grand Prix from third place, with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen joining him on the second row. Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat was the biggest victim of the new format, as he was eliminated during the first session.
Here's a look at the final times and the full grid for Sunday's race, courtesy of Formula One's official Twitter account:
Q3 Recap
Hamilton secured the 50th pole position of his career, beating out team-mate Rosberg in the final qualifying session. The reigning world champion was the only driver to duck underneath the 1:24.00 mark in the final session, which saw Mercedes go significantly faster than their rivals.
The two Mercedes drivers already knew their starting positions with four minutes left to go in the final session, as the new format makes it impossible for drivers to replace their tyres in time to complete a flying lap and record a fast time. Once a driver had clocked a solid time, he was virtually safe for the rest of the session.
Per BBC Sport's Gary Rose, even Hamilton wasn't happy with how things played out, despite grabbing the 50th pole of his career:
"I miss the old days of qualifying when you would go out and run and run and run. This whole out one lap is neat but I think people were saying it was not exciting for the fans. All my engineers were saying it would be the case, they told the FIA but they ignored them. For me it proved how smart my engineers are, although I knew that anyway.
I don't have the solution. I didn't see it so I don't know what did or did not work. To improve you have to make mistakes. Perhaps this is a step in the wrong direction but I'm not saying go back to the old system.
"
Vettel and Raikkonen never even attempted a second lap in the final session, with Hamilton and Rosberg the only drivers to head out again after clocking a fast lap. It made for a dull finish to a session that started with plenty of promise, and it was difficult to find anyone who actually liked the new format after the first qualifying session of the season.
Per BBC 5Live's Jennie Gow, even Formula One legend and Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda didn't mince his words:
""Worst decision in F1" says Nikki Lauda as he calls on Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt to go back to old qualifying system. #F1
— Jennie Gow (@JennieGow) March 19, 2016"
Sahara Force India at least displayed some humour with it all:
Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen impressed by taking fifth place, while Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was the first driver to be eliminated in Q3 and will start Sunday's race in eighth place.
Q2 Recap
The McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button failed to make it out of the second qualifying session, as they were eliminated just 90 seconds apart. Q2 also claimed a big name expected to at least make the final session, as Williams' Valtteri Bottas struggled to find grip and couldn't fit new tyres in time.
Bleacher Report's Matthew Walthert thinks McLaren should feel good about their pace after Saturday, given their struggles last season:
Bottas' poor session will see him start in 11th place, according to the provisional rankings. However, per F1 Fanatic, Williams failed to give FIA their suspension settings, and he could be pushed back down the grid even further.
Q1 Recap
While Q3 was a huge letdown and Q2 hardly had fans on the edge of their seats, Saturday's first qualifying session at least showed there are some positives to the new format. The utter chaos of 22 cars trying desperately to set a time before the elimination clock kicked in was spectacular to watch, and it immediately produced a few upsets.
Kvyat sat just 18th on the grid at the time of writing, and even if he moves up due to Williams' mistake, he'll have his work cut out for him during Sunday's race.
Manor and Haas will be disappointed with their efforts during the first qualifying session after showing so much promise in pre-season testing, but with so little time to set a good lap before the clock kicks in, perhaps some struggles were to be expected.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
