Report – Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will start the first race of the year from the second and third rows of the grid. Dominating today’s qualifying at Melbourne’s Albert Park was the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton (1.26.327,) with the top three completed by the Englishman’s team-mate, Nico Rosberg (1.26.921) and Felipe Massa for Williams (1.27.718.). Vettel was fourth in his SF15-T, posting a 1.27.757, followed by Raikkonen who did a 1.27.790.
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m26.327s | – |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m26.921s | 0.594s |
| 3 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m27.718s | 1.391s |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m27.757s | 1.430s |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m27.790s | 1.463s |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m28.087s | 1.760s |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m28.329s | 2.002s |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m28.510s | 2.183s |
| 9 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Mercedes | 1m28.560s | 2.233s |
| 10 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Mercedes | 1m29.480s | 3.153s |
| 11 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m28.800s | – |
| 12 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m28.868s | – |
| 13 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1m29.070s | – |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m29.208s | – |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m29.209s | – |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m31.376s | – |
| 17 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m31.422s | – |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren/Honda | 1m32.037s | – |
QUOTES
Kimi Raikkonen: “On my quick lap, I lost around three tenths at turn 3 and then I made a couple of mistakes in the next two corners. We knew we couldn’t fight the Mercedes, at least not in today’s qualifying, but third place on the grid was possible. In any case, during free practice, we saw that our long runs are pretty good, so we can be confident of having a good race. All we need to do is get a good start and then give it our best, but I think we can fight for a good position. As a team, we are working well together and we have a pretty clear picture of the situation. We know we are quick, but we need to improve in all sectors and, as for myself, I have to drive better.”
Ferrari duo say mistakes hampered Q3 lap Kimi: “I had quite a big mistake, three tenths in corner three, and messed it up the next two corners. The rest of the lap was pretty good and I caught up with the laptime, but it was pretty much done. We should have been in P3 but that is how it is. And probably we would have been one second behind Mercedes. We knew we cannot fight with them [Mercedes] in qualifying, but yesterday we had pretty good long run. Tomorrow the weather plays a big part, but like last year we are more confident with the race pace and this year we improve a lot overall. So it is a bit disappointing to have a mistake and start in P5, but I think we can still do a good race.”
Vettel, who lined up fourth, thought he should have done a better job on his first set of tyres in Q3. “Felipe nailed the lap. I think it was in reach on the first set, and ideally it should have been a bit quicker, but it wasn’t. That was down to me. The second shot in terms of strategy we could have done things differently, but all in all it was a very good result to have both cars in the top five.”
GALLERY
Qualifying over. Ready to go racing? Here’s a little something to get you in the mood… https://t.co/LLSxu0aitV #65YearsOfF1 — Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2015
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 