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Formula 1 Australian GP

2014 Australian Grand Prix Saturday - Qualifying

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Checkered flag
Australian Grand Prix Q3 result:

1 Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Ricciardo (Red Bull)
3 Rosberg (Mercedes)
4 Magnussen (McLaren)
5 Alonso (Ferrari)
6 Vergne (Toro Rosso)
7 Hulkenberg (Force India)
8 Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
9 Massa (Williams)
10 Bottas (Williams)*

* Five-place grid penalty to be applied
No more improvements, that's how it stands. Spectacular conclusion to a fantastic first qualifying session of Formula 1 2014.
Hamilton steals it! He's 0.317s quicker, 1m44.231s. Amazing stuff. Cheers from the fans - they love this, even if their boy loses out.
Stopwatch
Ricciardo goes provisional pole! 1m44.548s.
Alonso goes fifth.
Kvyat had a little kiss with the wall then on the run to Turn 9.
Ricciardo's on a personal best and Hamilton flies through sector one. The middle sector is unspectacular. This is very close.
Stopwatch
Rosberg now goes quickest! He nicks it by 0.167s from Hamilton. Hamilton has another lap in the bag, so too Ricciardo.
Stopwatch
Hamilton takes it back, 1m44.762s.
Stopwatch
Ricciardo goes quickest! 1m45.314s.
Magnussen improves to third fastest. Impressive work from the rookie.
Rosberg is absolutely flying - purple in both the first two sectors...
Just over a minute to go. Will it be all change?
Spectacular shots of Massa on the run through to Turns 11/12, with the Williams moving all over the place.
Massa on inters sets a personal best in sector one, but it's 1.5s off Rosberg's best through there.
Rosberg's out there already and goes faster than anyone so far in the first sector - but slithers off at Turn 9!
Fresh inters for Hulkenberg.
Looks like Alonso has switched to wets...
Hamilton goes for full wets! Ricciardo is on inters. Which will prove the right call?
The switch to intermediate tyres begins (with the exception of Alonso and Massa, who are already out there on it).

Hamilton leads Rosberg; Ricciardo; Hulkenberg; Vergne; Kvyat; Magnussen; Bottas; Alonso and Massa.
Ricciardo is 0.7s behind Hamilton's benchmark. He flies through the first sector, quicker than anyone else, but looks set to pit.
Stopwatch
Hamilton goes top, 1m45.335s, as Rosberg pits.
Quote
Time to switch to inters? Ricciardo says he thinks "it will be if we keep running".
This could be very close between the Mercs and Ricciardo. The latter is flying in the middle sector.
Hulkenberg currently the best of the non-Mercs in third.
Alonso on the intermediate tyre is 3.020s off the pace.
Hamilton slots into second behind his team-mate. Ricciardo is sixth and Alonso seventh after the first run.
Stopwatch
The first time of Q3 is a 1m45.550s from Rosberg.
Rosberg is told over the radio that everyone's on full wets except Alonso on inters.
Straight out is Nico Rosberg, with Ricciardo damp on his heels.
Really impressive performance from Daniil Kvyat in making Q3 on his F1 debut. Circumstances helped him, but he kept his head admirably.
Green flag
Green light, here we go! Q3 is underway.
This is the full list of Q3 runners then:

Rosberg; Ricciardo; Alonso; Hamilton; Magnussen; Hulkenberg; Vergne; Bottas; Massa and Kvyat.
Both Williams drivers came through that chaos to get into Q3. Bottas and Massa ended up eighth and ninth, but will be optimistic of a strong starting position tomorrow (though the Finn has a grid penalty coming his way remember).
Ricciardo in particular, with the second fastest time just 0.031s slower than Rosberg at the front, will be delighted with that effort - not least because of Vettel's elimination.

The crowd went mad when that happened. It's not nice to hear a driver jeered, but it's not quite as malicious as that - this is F1 turned on its head.
Well, that certainly delivered a few more high-profile scalps. Breathless qualifying session with a few star performances.
Back to Raikkonen, he seemed to use a bit too much throttle on the way out of Turn 3. Ended up nudging the wall.
Checkered flag
Eliminated from Q2:

11 Button (McLaren)
12 Raikkonen (Ferrari)
13 Vettel (Red Bull)
14 Sutil (Sauber)
15 Kobayashi (Caterham)
16 Perez (Force India)
Magnussen, meanwhile, barged his way into Q3 with the fifth best time right at the end.
Breaking news
Chequered flag, that's it. Vettel's out in Q2!

By: Scott Mitchell, Ben Anderson, Edd Straw, Jonathan Noble, Andrew van Leeuwen, Matt Beer

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