Brilliant Hamilton takes pole in Melbourne

Hamilton had already made his pit stop but Vettel had yet to make his, allowing Ferrari to pounce on the opportunity and jump into the lead.

Vettel qualified only third after he was beaten to the front row by his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen – and Hamilton could not resist a playful jibe against his chief championship protagonist on the eve of their battle for a fifth Formula One world title.

“Needless to say, we got a bit lucky with the timing of the safety auto”, Vettel said.

Hamilton claimed his 73rd career pole position with the fastest lap ever recorded at Albert Park – a stunning 1m 21.164s. I was praying for a Safety Car and when I got out ahead I knew it was hard to pass.

“We are not yet there where we want to be – I’m not exactly there with the auto and if I don’t feel what I want to feel, then it’s a bit tricky”.

“I can assure you we don’t have a party mode”, Hamilton said after the session, jokingly adding: “I’m always in party mode!”

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff revealed his disbelief at the outcome after the race but Hamilton appeared level-headed and took the positives from the weekend.

Hamilton replied: “I was waiting to put a good lap”.

The 2018 Australian Grand Prix reiterated what Robert Burns explained over two centuries ago: The best laid plans of mice and men often go wrong. “We still have great pace and are looking forward to putting all of the learnings to the test in Bahrain”. Race control took no risks and deployed a Virtual Safety Car – a mechanism that forces all drivers to slow to a pre-designated lap time for the safety of the marshals on track. Certainly not the start Mercedes or Hamilton expected and the next few races will be a lot more than just about strategy.

“Hamilton is starting exactly where he left off with another fantastic qualifying campaign and he is the short price favourite to fly off the grid and make it one from one in the early hours of Sunday”, said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.

The Italian outfit pitted Raikkonen first with Vettel pitting a lap later, giving him a fresh tyre advantage. He finished the race in third, holding off home-town hero Daniel Ricciardo who finished fourth. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

“Luckily it was Seb who got the luck and it was our team at least. Long winter, long seasons in the past but now we can fight, we can fight”, Alonso said over the team radio.

Sebastian Vettel celebraters his victory. 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr/Mercedes) at 5.036sec. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen took the third spot on the podium after a brilliant qualifying and race.

Verstappen actually passed Alonso as the McLaren exited the pits but was instructed to give the place back and then couldn’t find a way through over the remaining 27 laps as the pair dropped to almost half a minute behind the leaders.

Dutchman Max Verstappen finished sixth last season with 168 points.