F1 Australian GP: Nico Rosberg says he's as fast as Lewis Hamilton

Reigning F1 world champion Hamilton claimed pole by 0.594 seconds in Melbourne, as Mercedes again proved comfortably clear of its opposition.

"First of all Lewis was on impressive form today, he did an awesome job and nailed it all the time," said Rosberg, who went off onto the grass on his first Q3 flying lap so only had one pole shot.

"The speed was there, I just didn't get it together today. I'm not worried about pace at all, to be honest.

"In the long runs, my pace was very strong so hopefully it can be the other way around tomorrow."

"P2, I have to live with that today. It's still a long day tomorrow."

He had no complaints about his Mercedes' set-up as the strong winds caused problems elsewhere.

"It really has a big impact on the car so we all had to adapt again to it so that's why it was particularly difficult out there," said Rosberg.

"But my balance was good and the car was really good."

Hamilton described his dominant performance as "a big rush".

"Today we found a good balance and today was about pushing those laps," he said.

"It is so much fun when you get into qualifying. I'm massively grateful for all the work that has gone in."

After retiring early from last year's Australian GP, Hamilton said he hopes for a smoother start to his title defence but equally knows from 2014 that an initial deficit can be overcome.

"It is not that it isn't important, but last year I didn't have a good first race and it wasn't the end of the world," he said.

"The plan tomorrow is to have a better start to the season."