What we've learned in Melbourne so far

Friday's free practice sessions had been washed out by rain, as Melbourne's unpredictable microclimate undermined the first day of action for Formula 1 in 2016.

But Saturday's final free practice and controversial qualifying session gave everyone a much better read of where they stack up competitively.

Many paddock personalities talked about the fact no one in F1 really knows where they stand until everyone fits super-soft tyres, dumps out the excess fuel, turns up their engines and lets rip on Saturday afternoon in Australia.

Now we've seen all the cars run in anger, and witnessed F1's new knockout qualifying format in action, we can begin to build a picture of what lays in store for the season ahead.

Here's what our team on the ground has learned after two days of F1 action ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT ISN'T WORKING
Ben Anderson, Grand Prix Editor, @BenAndersonAuto

Commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone called it "crap", Mercedes boss Toto Wolff declared it "rubbish", Niki Lauda said it was the biggest nonsense he'd ever seen in Formula 1.

Ultimately, F1's experiment with 'knockout' qualifying turned out to be a disaster. The drivers met with the FIA during pre-season testing to voice concerns over the changes, which is why Sebastian Vettel wasn't surprised to spend the last part of Q3 getting changed out of his overalls instead of battling the Mercedes drivers for pole position on the circuit.

The aim was to mix up the grid, but all the new format did was increase the likelihood of a Mercedes one-two. Perhaps that result was inevitable anyway, but arguably only Valtteri Bottas's Williams (11th) and Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull (18th) qualified out of position.

Worse, the knock-on effect was to shift all the excitement to the beginning of the session while spoiling the climax. Instead of cars rushing out at the end to try to avoid the drop we got cars sitting in garages waiting for inevitable elimination.

This was a classic example of the wrongheaded decision-making that does so much damage to F1's reputation. Instead of a proper, logical, thorough solution for improving the show we got a half-arsed measure that spoiled what was already a perfectly fine spectacle.

BUT IT IS PUTTING SOME DRIVERS UNDER MORE PRESSURE
Ben Anderson

Criticism of the new format wasn't universal. Renault's Jolyon Palmer, who was involved in an elimination duel with Marcus Ericsson's Sauber at the climax of Q1, said he enjoyed the challenge of having to "dig deeper and deeper" to escape the cut, while Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen suggested the new format made it more difficult for drivers because of the lack of opportunities to make second runs in each segment.

"It was definitely more pressure and for us more exciting as well because you only had one lap, you couldn't make a mistake because then you were out," Verstappen said. "It was quite intense."

It's certainly true that the revised format caused a few extra headaches for some. Haas wasn't able to get either of its drivers out in time to complete second runs in Q1, and Kvyat also lost out after finding traffic, but Bottas reckoned he would have been 11th regardless of the format.

"The first two sessions didn't feel too different from the old system but maybe for the spectators it's different," he said. "As a driver you just go out and do your best, like before. Today, with the old system or the new system, my qualifying position would have been the same."

HAMILTON IS BANG ON FORM
Ben Anderson

Lewis Hamilton wasn't at his formidable best at the end of last season. After wrapping up his third world championship with three races to spare he spent the rest of the year celebrating it, got distracted and allowed Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to dominate.

The big questions coming into this season focused on whether Rosberg could sustain the superb qualifying form (six pole positions in a row) that helped him get the best of Hamilton during the 2015 run-in, and whether Hamilton would be able to find the necessary energy to regroup and gun for a fourth crown.

The early signs are ominous for Rosberg. Hamilton led the way throughout practice and qualifying in Melbourne, ending up more than three tenths of a second clear in their pole position shootout.

"I have to really take my hat off to this team - what they have done to raise the bar once more, it inspires me, it motivates me," Hamilton said. "I really enjoyed driving the car in qualifying.

"We got the set-up right, they were some sexy laps, they felt so good, just flowing, no real mistakes and that is really all you can hope for as a driver."

Business as usual for the champ it seems.

FERRARI IS NOT AS CLOSE AS HOPED
Ian Parkes, Chief F1 correspondent, @ianparkesf1

There can be no doubt Mercedes still has a distinct upper hand, but by just how much is arguably not as clear as the qualifying times suggest.

Just under a quarter of a second separated Lewis Hamilton from Sebastian Vettel after final practice, which certainly suggested Ferrari had made gains.

But by the end of qualifying the gap between Hamilton on pole and Vettel in third had grown to just over eight tenths of a second, sending alarm bells ringing.

The new qualifying format played a part, as Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen - who finished 1.196s adrift of Hamilton - both only went for one run in Q3, whereas the reigning champion enjoyed two.

The reason, according to Vettel, is Ferrari opted to save a fresh set of super-soft tyres for the race.

If the form from last year is any indicator, Ferrari always proves stronger over the course of a grand prix than in qualifying, so the potential is still there to push Mercedes hard.

Raikkonen further suggested Melbourne's anomalous Albert Park street track, and in particular its inclement weather, has exaggerated the gap, with the Finn believing warmer climes and "normal circuits" will provide a more "real picture".

TORO ROSSO IS BEST OF THE REST
Ben Anderson

Red Bull boss Christian Horner reckoned Ferrari power could vault Toro Rosso ahead of its parent team at the start of this season and Max Verstappen's fifth placed result in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix suggests Horner's crystal ball is clear.

The group behind Mercedes and Ferrari is hotly contested, with Williams, Red Bull and probably Force India all likely to be able to stake a claim depending on how the different circuit configurations suit their various cars.

Red Bull has the best chassis but the worst engine, Williams and Force India have the best engine but weaker cars, and Toro Rosso has a decent blend of both.

For now at least. The team is all too aware that using a year-old Ferrari engine that won't be developed through the season will limit the potential for strong results later in the season, so it has to strike while the iron is hot.

Verstappen qualifying fifth in Melbourne, with team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr only a tenth-and-a-half behind, represents a great start.

BUT RED BULL IS ALSO IN BETTER SHAPE THAN IT LOOKS
Ben Anderson

On the face of it seeing one car drop out in Q1 and the other finish up slowest in Q3 shouldn't give much cause for cheer at Red Bull, but the atmosphere in that team starkly contrasts with the misery of the past two seasons.

Red Bull knows the RB12 is one of the best chassis out there. Last year's RB11 was nowhere near at the start of the 2015 season. And Christian Horner took great heart from the fact Daniel Ricciardo was just 0.155s shy of beating Red Bull junior Max Verstappen to fifth on the grid.

"I knew it would be close with Williams, Toro Rosso and Force India, and that's pretty much where we are," said Ricciardo. "We've split the Williams, we're ahead of the Force Indias and just missed out on the Toro Rossos.

"That extra tenth and a half would have been nice for fifth, but I think it's as expected for now. We knew Toro Rosso would have good one-lap pace, they showed that.

"Can they sustain that for the race? Hopefully not. We'll see."

McLAREN-HONDA HAS SURPRISED ITSELF
Ben Anderson

This is probably the best Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have felt since McLaren started putting Honda engines in the back of its cars again.

Qualifying 12th and 13th for the Australian GP is no great shakes in itself, but convincingly beating both works Renaults and Alonso qualifying within three tenths of Nico Hulkenberg's Force India represents an enormous step in the right direction.

McLaren endured a difficult end to pre-season testing, thanks to a partial aerodynamic upgrade creating chronic problems with rear instability on the MP4-31.

New parts fitted for Melbourne seem to have restored confidence to the drivers and McLaren now looks to be starting this season as clearly the seventh best team, though Haas might have something to say about that given the impressive but disqualified pace shown by Esteban Gutierrez at the end of Q1...

Nevertheless, McLaren has a solid base to build on, and Button also feels the team should be relatively more competitive in the races, given Honda has fixed its Energy Recovery Systems.

All McLaren-Honda needs now is a chunk more horsepower...

TEAMS ARE SHORT ON SPARES
Ben Anderson

"I'm sure there are plenty of people here who are not looking forward to running in the wet with walls next to the track because they haven't got the level of spares that they'd wish they had."

Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds predicted teams might be reticent to run too much in bad weather on Friday and so it proved.

Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa did 16 laps between them across the first two practice sessions, Carlos Sainz Jr crossed the line just three times in practice one, and his Toro Rosso team-mate Max Verstappen - plus both Sauber drivers - failed to appear at all on Friday afternoon.

"I think a lot of people haven't realised the significance of moving this race forward two weeks," explained Symonds. "When you're designing a Formula 1 car, it's quite a long project so you start it off with a date in mind.

"When everything came forward by two weeks, we were well into the project so you can't suddenly just sort of invent two weeks from nowhere. I honestly think everyone is behind where they want to be."

HAAS IS LEARNING THE HARD WAY
Ian Parkes

In Formula 1 the learning curve is incredibly steep, as Haas is discovering after failing to fulfil its potential during a qualifying session in which team principal Gunther Steiner conceded "little mistakes" were made.

Romain Grosjean's pitlane collision with Rio Haryanto's Manor in final free practice was an unfortunate start to the day, with the stewards siding with the American newcomer and the Frenchman.

The fact Grosjean's pitcrew managed to change a new floor and get their man back out in just over 25 minutes at least showed progress is being made behind the scenes.

But Haas showed tactical naivety from the pitwall in qualifying by allowing both Grosjean and team-mate Esteban Gutierrez to complete two laps on their first sets of super-softs in Q1.

The additional lap meant come their follow-up attempt on new super-softs both Grosjean and Gutierrez were in sector three of Melbourne's Albert Park when they were eliminated.

Gutierrez's time would have been good enough for fourth in Q1, and if repeated in Q2 would have placed him 14th, while Grosjean also posted a lap that would have taken him into Q2.

But once Haas learns its lessons it looks likely to be a seriously credible midfield competitor.

WILLIAMS HAS SLIPPED BACK
Lawrence Barretto, F1 reporter, @lawrobarretto

Williams was in good spirits after the Barcelona pre-season tests with a general feeling inside the team that it had delivered on its targets.

The drivers spoke of low-speed gains, while chief test engineer Rod Nelson went as far as to say Williams could get ahead of Ferrari into second behind Mercedes.

But after qualifying in Australia, it appears Williams has slipped back rather than closing the gap and moving forward.

Felipe Massa said Mercedes is "far in front" and Ferrari has "a reasonably good margin" with four teams - Williams, Toro Rosso, Red Bull and Force India - behind who are "very close".

Williams technical director Pat Symonds was more optimistic. He admitted Williams had underestimated Toro Rosso's speed but said the team only has "a sample of one" and "we'll see how things change on different circuits".

The team tends to show better race pace and Albert Park is a unique circuit, but on the evidence so far it appears Williams's early optimism has been tempered.