Mercedes driver takes 32nd career pole as Daniel Ricciardo thrills homes crowd with first front row qualifying position.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton claimed his 32nd career pole and his first of Formula One’s new era in a rain-swept qualifying session at Melbourne’s Albert Park. Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, delighted his home crowd by scoring his first front-row start, taking second place ahead of Nico Rosberg in the other Mercedes.
There was no such joy for Ricciardo’s Red Bull Racing team-mate, however, as Sebastian Vettel failed to make it through to the top 10 shoot out, the defending champion slumping to 13th position.
Qualifying began in fine weather and the shortened Q1 session – now just 18 minutes long – largely ran as expected. Lotus, plagued by technical issues all weekend, saw Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado eliminated from the session, with the Venezuelan driver not failing to register a time. Also out were Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson, Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez, who will also take a five-plave grid penalty due to a gearbox change, and the Marussias of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.
It was in the second session where the drama began. After a rain shower at the beginning of Q2 a dry line began to form and the final minutes of the session were something of a lottery depending on track position, grip level and on the state of the car being driven.
For Vettel, it was the latter element that caused his downfall. In the final practice session the champion had complained that the drivability of his RB10 was poor and that the car would not accelerate and a similar issue hampered his progress in qualifying.
“I think we have made a big step forward with the car, but of course I’m not happy that we didn’t make it to Q3,” said Vettel. “I think the car is quick, but we struggled this afternoon with drivability which, in these conditions, made it even worse. The car seems good and Daniel did a very good job to be on the front row, so congratulations to him. It’s going to be a long race tomorrow and reliability will be the most important thing to make it to the flag, but I think there will be lots of opportunities for us.”
Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner added that Vettel’s car had suffered with a software problem, which led to it being down on power in the session.
Ahead, Kimi Raikkonen was also in trouble. The Finn was struggling with his F14T and in attempting to find his way into Q3 in the dying moments of the session pushed too hard and dumped his car into the wall at Turn 4. A third former champion, Jenson Button, was also ruled out of the final segment.
Rain at the beginning of that final segment led to a tough decision on tyres for the remaining 10 competitors – whether to run with intermediate or full wet Pirelli tyres.
Both Mercedes drivers played it safe but Ricciardo went for the green-banded tyres and as the clock ticked down he jumped to the top of the timesheet. Hamilton though, was still on track and his final lap was good enough to push Ricciardo down to second.
The Australian was still delighted with his performance, however. “It was exciting,” he said. “Definitely the weather added to the mix and the whole session went well. It’s the first time we’ve all driven these cars on the limit in wet conditions. It was tricky but at the same time, of course, a lot of fun. It was nice to be always up there. The engineer was on the radio saying ‘pace is good, P1, P2, P3’ it was always in that battle for the pole position. So definitely a really nice qualifying session with the team.”
Hamilton, meanwhile, was delighted with his first pole position of 2014 and the 32nd of his career, equaling Nigel Mansell’s career total.
“These new cars are so much harder to drive in the wet and it was the first time for me driving in the wet,” he said. “A serious challenge today, but for both me and Nico to be up here is a great showing for the team.
“To be in Formula One has always been my dream but to get to as many poles as [Mansell] is incredible.”
2014 Australian Grand Prix – Qualiyfing Result1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:44.2312 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:44.5483 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:44.5954 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:45.7455 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:45.8196 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:45.8647 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:46.0308 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:47.3689 Felipe Massa Williams 1:48.07910 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:48.147
11 Jenson Button McLaren 1:44.43712 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:44.49413 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:44.66814 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:45.65515 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:45.867 16 Sergio Perez Force India 1:47.293
17 Max Chilton Marussia 1:34.29318 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:34.794 19 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:35.11720 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:35.157 21 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:36.993 22 Pastor Maldonado Lotus No time
Click here for the Official Kimi Raikkonen web site - designed and built by Racecar
