Australia – Qualification: Hamilton stays afloat, Vettel and Räikkönen struggle

The beginnings of the first qualifying session of the year 2014, in Australia, take place on a dry track but the weather is already there to spice things up as rain is expected.

Q1: The first part of these qualifications begins under a threatening sky. New this year: drivers only have 18 minutes to be among the top 16. Lewis Hamilton is the first driver to set a timed lap at 1:31.699 on medium tires, before Felipe Massa, on soft tires, steals the best time with 1:31.549. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo improve with a 1:30.775 for the Australian.

In just 7 minutes, 21 drivers completed a lap, the threatening sky and various unknowns motivating the teams to set a fast lap as quickly as possible. The main difference between them: the type of tire.

And with five minutes remaining, the rain intensifies, making driving on slick tires impossible. Romain Grosjean returns to the track but is forced to come back in after just one lap, while Esteban Gutiérrez also attempts an outing, unsuccessfully. Pastor Maldonado, on the other hand, didn’t manage to set a timed lap.

Eliminated in Q1: Maldonado, Grosjean, Ericsson, Gutiérrez, Bianchi, Chilton

Q2: The rain has stopped and the drivers take to the track with intermediate tires, except for Kvyat, on extreme tires. But 2 minutes into Q2, the rain reappears at some spots on the circuit, and Fernando Alonso is informed it should intensify. And if the drivers were already sliding on the dry, it’s nothing compared to the maneuvers on a soaked track: lap times have lost more than 16 seconds between the two sessions, but the drivers improve gradually, like Bottas, who sets the fastest time before showing us a nice spin.

But midway through the session, it’s the local of the event: Daniel Ricciardo who is in the lead, before Alonso and then the two Mercedes take the lead. Many drivers insert themselves between the two Mercedes drivers, like Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hülkenberg, and Jean-Eric Vergne, while Button improves the benchmark time by a few seconds. The Australian from Red Bull is on the attack again and improves by 0.4 seconds!

3 minutes before the checkered flag, the end of the session goes into overdrive. Valtteri Bottas, Felipe Massa, and Daniil Kvyat improve, ranking 1st, 3rd, and 4th respectively. Times are dropping very fast, with Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo improving by over a second, while Nico Rosberg stuns the competition with 1:42.264. A yellow flag is caused by Kimi Räikkönen! The Finn is in the wall. Astonishment in the Red Bull camp: Sebastian Vettel is only 13th, while Kamui Kobayashi is ahead of Sergio Pérez. Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen are also out from Q2.

Eliminated in Q2: Button, Räikkönen, Vettel, Sutil, Kobayashi, Perez

Q3: The session begins just as the rain intensifies. The drivers have chosen rain tires, except for Fernando Alonso, who is on intermediates. Nico Rosberg sets an initial benchmark lap in 1:45:550. Lewis Hamilton is the first driver to beat this time, while his teammate has returned to the pits, as has Jean-Eric Vergne. The drivers stop one after another to change tires, either intermediates or extremes depending on the driver, while the two Toro Rossos follow Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg, both behind the Mercedes. Daniil Kvyat has a big sideways moment but manages to avoid hitting the wall too hard.

Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton improve significantly, but it’s ultimately Nico Rosberg who improves again. However, Daniel Ricciardo gets ahead of the German and thrills the crowd, before Lewis Hamilton improves a bit more with a 1:44:231. Great performance as well from Kevin Magnussen who finishes 4th ahead of Fernando Alonso. They are followed by Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Hülkenberg, Daniil Kvyat, and the two Williams drivers, Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

Australian Grand Prix 2014 Qualifying Standings