Lewis Hamilton claimed a dominant pole position in Melbourne, outclassing fellow Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg by more than half a second. The pair were, in turn, a further half a second faster than third place Felipe Massa who was joined in the top ten by teammate Valtteri Bottas – although the Finn struggled with the setup and brakes on his car.

The Ferrari duo of Vettel and Räikkönen proved the Scuderia has retained the improved pace from testing, with fourth and fifth, and Red Bull managing only sixth on the grid. The Lotus duo claimed the final two top ten grid slots, with Felipe Nasr securing a strong eleventh place for Sauber, just missing out on an appearance in Q3.

Unfortunately, McLaren didn’t make it out of the first session, and were the last two cars on the grid, with Manor still unable to run due to software issues on their modified car.