Australian GP final practice and qualifying

By: Geoff Creighton

Summary


	Hamilton beats Bottas to pole by 0.012s
	Pole time of 1m20.486s breaks track record
	Vettel and Verstappen complete the second row
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Status: Stopped

10:14 Plenty to digest from that first qualifying session of the year, particularly the extent of the gap between Mercedes and Ferrari. We'll be back with live coverage of the opening grand prix of the season from a little before 5am UK time tomorrow, but in the meantime stay up to date with all the reaction to qualifying throughout the day with Autosport and Motorsport.com.

Australian Grand Prix qualifying: Lewis Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, heading a Mercedes front-row lockout for the first race of the 2019 Formula 1 season

10:12

10:10 Vettel's interview on the grid is interrupted by another broadcast playing over the top of it, but he says "I think we have a good car [for the race]" and suggests the gap to Mercedes shouldn't be read into too much because "this track is very specific".

10:08

10:07 We really made some good progress. I had difficult FP3," says Bottas, who will start second. "Unfortunately not quite enough for pole, I struggled a bit on the first sector on my run."

10:06 "I'm shaking, it was so close out there," says Hamilton. "Coming from testing, from winter we had no idea where we would be. The guys back at factory have been working so hard."

10:03

10:03 Q3 order: 1 Hamilton; 2 Bottas, +0.112s; 3 Vettel, +0.704s; 4 Verstappen, +0.834s; 5 Leclerc, +0.956s; 6 Grosjean, +1.340s; 7 Magnussen, +1.613s; 8 Norris, +1.818s; 9 Raikkonen, +1.828s; 10 Perez, +2.295s.

10:01 Grosjean, Magnussen, a brilliant Norris, Raikkonen and Perez make up the top 10.

10:01 Ah, actually, spoke way too soon on that one - Verstappen splits the Ferraris in fourth place!

10:01 Vettel and Leclerc can only lock out the second row, the German as much as 0.704s slower than Hamilton.

10:00 And make that, almost certainly, actual pole, as Bottas fails to improve.

10:00 But he finds time in the third sector for a 1m20.486s, provisional pole!

10:00 Hamilton is half a tenth slower than Bottas' provisional pole time after two sectors.

09:59 Bottas first sector is slower than on his initial effort.

09:59 Magnussen is two tenths up on Perez in the first sector - where Hamilton is quickest of all.

09:58 Perez is the first driver to start a flying lap. Magnussen and Hamilton are next up.

09:58 Raikkonen is the last car out of the pits for the final runs, as he follows behind his Ferrari replacement Leclerc and his former team-mate Vettel.

09:57 Hamilton leads Bottas out on track again the second time around, with Norris heading out between them.

09:55

09:55 Hamilton also had a bit of a wobble exiting the first corner after taking a good part of the kerb at Turn 1.

09:55 Red Bull driver Verstappen got slightly wide out of Turn 14 on the approach to the penultimate corner on his first flying lap.

09:54 Current order: 1 Bottas; 2 Hamilton, +0.457s; 3 Vettel, +0.652s; 4 Leclerc, +0.652s; 5 Verstappen, +1.058s; 6 Grosjean, +1.385s; 7 Magnussen, +2.309s; 8 Norris, +2.600s.

09:53 Verstappen takes fifth place with his first effort.

09:53 Vettel is third-fastest, Leclerc is fourth. They're 0.652s and 0.844s slower than Bottas respectively.

09:52 Hamilton posts a 1m21.055s, before Bottas fires in a 1m20.598s!

09:52 The initial benchmark is Grosjean's, a 1m21.983s, a second quicker than Magnussen.

09:52 Leclerc and Vettel are also nowhere near the Finn in the opening sector.

09:51 Also four tenths up in S1 - Bottas on Hamilton!

09:51 "Constantly having a struggle with my right-front brake," says Hamilton as he prepares for his first Q3 lap.

09:51 Grosjean is four tenths up on Magnussen in S1 as he starts his lap. That's a lot of tenths.

09:50 Leclerc and Verstappen have now begun their out-laps as well. Looks like Raikkonen and Perez might stick to a single run towards the end of the session.

09:49 He is followed by Grosjean, Hamilton, Bottas, Norris and Vettel.

09:49 Magnussen is first out on track.

09:49

09:48 Q3 is now live.

09:47 "Q3 was not far away", Albon is told. He gets all sweary about traffic in response.

09:46 Hulkenberg had a "boost pressure" issue on his final out-lap.

09:45

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