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Formula 1 Australian GP

2015 Australian Grand Prix Saturday - Qualifying

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1.1s covers the top four, 2.0s covers the top eight at the moment.
Maldonado has yet to do a flying lap, he's the only lap not to appear properly yet.
Drop zone angst pack:

9 Ricciardo
10 Verstappen
11 Kvyat
12 Nasr
13 Hulkenberg
14 Perez
15 Maldonado
Hulkenberg gets rid of his used softs and switches to a new set, heading straight back out. He's currently P13.
Leaders:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Vettel
4 Raikkonen
5 Bottas
6 Massa
7 Sainz
8 Grosjean
First runs done, full order coming up...
Kvyat's first lap is only good for 11th, two tenths over Verstappen in 10th.
Vettel grabs third from Raikkonen, but is still 0.7s off Hamilton.
Rosberg says he had a problem with the engine - "it cut on the entry to Turn 15".
Raikkonen demotes the Williams pair as he goes third, 1.2s off Hamilton as the top.
Massa pops into fourth, 0.7s down on Williams team-mate Bottas.
Edd Straw: "And that fast lap from Hamilton means that the McLaren-Honda pace deficit, based on Button's Q1 time, is now up to 4.5 seconds! Lots of work to be done there."
Vertappen goes sixth behind Sainz and Ricciardo.
Vettel sets a new overall best in sector one.
Ricciardo shows better form than earlier to go fourth, but he's immediately beaten by Sainz's Toro Rosso.
"Two tenths to Nico" is the brief radio message to Hamilton.
Rosberg is 0.203s slower than Hamilton at his first attempt, coming over the line with a 1m27.097s.
After running softs throughout Q1, the Force India drivers head out on used rubber to start Q2. Massa has also stuck with the set he had to put on to make himself safe at the end of Q1.
Stopwatch
The world champion comes through on a 1m26.894s, Hamilton faster than Bottas by 1.2s.
Hamilton is now on course to depose Bottas.
Perez's first lap is fourth and last so far, 0.4s off team-mate Hulkenberg.
Stopwatch
Bottas's 1m28.012s lap is 1.6s faster than Nasr as he claims first place.
Bottas is set to grab top spot very shortly...
Hulkenberg slots into second, 0.3s off the Sauber.
Stopwatch
A couple of tiny lock-ups for Nasr on that lap, which turns out to be a 1m29.614s.
No dallying with mediums this time, everyone is straight into soft-tyre mode as expected.
Bottas and the Force Indias are also on track.
Edd Straw: "That was a strong qualifying session for Bottas. While he was down in eighth place, he didn't use a set of soft-compound Pirellis. That means, if he makes Q3, he has enough sets to do two soft-tyre runs in each of the final two segments of qualifying."
No takers on track yet. Lots of teams noting that cloud cover is increasing and temperatures are cooling. Now Nasr sets off for a lap.
Green flag
The clock starts again, 15 minutes of Q2 begins.
Lawrence Barretto: "Encouraging stuff for Force India, with Nico Hulkenberg clocking the ninth fastest time just over a second off the pace. Not bad for a team who managed just two-and-a-half days of pre-season testing."
The remaining Sauber of Nasr looks unlikely to reach Q3, then it seems it's a Red Bull, Force India, Lotus battle just ahead.
No response from Button on the radio when he is told of his fate, while Magnussen's only comment is to tell McLaren to "speak up" on the radio because he can't hear the messages very well.
Button was asked yesterday about potentially being on the back row, and replied:

"I am hoping it won’t be the last row of the grid – hopefully 20 cars will run!"

Well only 18 did, and McLaren was 17th and 18th.
Edd Straw: "Even with a troubled pre-season, McLaren will be very disappointed to be so far off the pace in Q1. Button was 2.836s off the pace, which when you consider that the fastest time in that session was set by Hamilton on the slower tyre is poor. As Button was on the softs, that means the deficit is more in the ballpark of four seconds."
The 'phew, that was close-ish' zone:

11 Ricciardo
12 Maldonado
13 Perez
14 Kvyat
15 Nasr
Top Q1 positions:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Massa
4 Verstappen
5 Vettel
6 Grosjean
7 Sainz
8 Bottas
9 Hulkenberg
10 Raikkonen
So confirmed order:

16 Ericsson
17 Button
18 Magnussen

Out of the grand prix: Merhi, Stevens
So it's McLaren on the back of the grid with Manor unable to run at all.
Button improves but he's still a second away from reaching Q2. Only consolation is beating Magnussen to 17th.

By: Glenn Freeman, Jack Benyon, AUTOSPORT staff, Ben Anderson, Edd Straw, Lawrence Barretto

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