Round one to impressive Ricciardo as Vettel fails to make it through to Q3; Raikkonen's struggles continue as he crashes out; Wretched Lotus to start at the back of the grid; Race starts at 6am on Sunday
Saturday 15 March 2014 11:14, UK
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton will start the Australian GP on pole after defying the Albert Park crowd by snatching P1 from home favourite Daniel Ricciardo on an ultra-impressive debut for the Red Bull youngster and F1's new era.
And spare a thought for Lotus. Barely four months ago, the team were celebrating finishing fourth in the Constructors' Championship. Since then, they have lost their star driver, their team principal and, judging by the evidence of this weekend in which they have scarcely managed a solitary timed lap, the 2014 plot. To describe the E22 as a handful would be to extend the definition of an understatement with the two Lotus cars spending as much time in the gravel as they did on the road during a gut-wrenching Q3 session. Suffice to say, Pastor Maldonado, who will start from the back row of the grid alongside the penalised Esteban Gutierrez, with a fuming Romain Grosjean one place ahead, may well be having second thoughts about the wisdom of his decision to leave Williams. Sunday's race, exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, starts at 6am, with race-day coverage underway at 5am.