2012 Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix

The formation lap begins and Hamilton leads the field of 22 away at Albert Park.

Soft tyres are the choice of the field, with only Vergne, Petrov and Perez starting on the medium Pirelli.

Vettel stares straight ahead, his eyes as wide as saucers. Now he will have to fight in the pack from sixth, rather than sail away up front.

There are two DRS zones around Albert Park this year, with detection heading into Turn 14 allowing the wing to open down to Turns 1 and 3.

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Nico Hulkenberg gets a good luck tap on the helmet as he gets ready to go from ninth on today's grid.

There are five minutes to go until the formation lap begins at Albert Park.

A Qantas 747 makes a low flypast over the circuit.

All 22 cars made it to the dummy grid without any issues a short time ago, in front of a packed crowd who have two Australians in the top 10

Drivers are getting comfortable in their cars with less than ten minutes until the first race of the season.

Motor racing fans love to debate and discuss the action on track, and the live forum at the bottom of the screen is your chance to let everyone know your thoughts on events as they unfold at the circuit.

• Do you expect to see a clean race today with no first lap issues?

• How far up the field will the Ferrari drivers finish?

• Will McLaren stroll to a one-two victory or can the chasing pack make a race of it at the front?

Tell the world what you think.

Click the SHOW LIVE FORUM link in the red bar at the bottom of your browser window if you'd like to join the debate.

Here's how the grid will line-up this afternoon: Pos Driver Team 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 17. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 22. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari * * Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

Conditions are fine, dry and pleasantly sunny as we gear up for the first race action of 2012. A light south-easterly breeze is blowing in the late-afternoon sun and the temperature is just beginning to drop away from today's maximum of 23 degrees Celsius.

Hello everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for coverage of the opening round in this year's FIA Formula 1 world championship - the Australian Grand Prix from Albert Park, Melbourne.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button proved that good-looking cars can lock-out the front row of a grid yesterday with a sensational performance in qualifying. But there were other stories too. Romain Grosjean is a scarcely believable third, Mercedes has stepped up and Red Bull has a lot of work to do.

But it's a bad time for Ferrari with Massa and Alonso both outside the top 10. Scoring decent points will be a challenge for the Scuderia today.

Hamilton leads McLaren front row in Australia