Australian Grand Prix: First pole of the season for Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) takes his 73rd F1 pole position of a career today in qualifying for the 2018 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park.

Setting the fastest time of 1.21.164, what is new lap record, Hamilton defeated Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel by more than six-tenths of a second. It’s the seventh pole position for Hamilton in Australia.

Hamilton defeated two Ferraris by a big margin

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was the fourth-fastest, ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean are sixth and seventh respectively. Two Renault’s drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr follow on P8 and P9.

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) was also participating in Q3 but he crashed hard on installation lap.

Valtteri Bottas crashed out in Q3

Fernando Alonso (McLaren) was the fastest among drivers who didn’t get into Q3. He will share the sixth row on the grid with teammate Stoffel Vandoorne. Sergio Perez (Force India) was 13th, ahead of Lance Stroll (Williams) and Esteban Ocon (Force India).

Five drivers who didn’t pass Q1 are Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso, P16), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber, P17), Charles Leclerc (Sauber, P18), Sergey Sirotkin (Williams, P19) and Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso, P20).

Check the full results of the Australian Grand Prix

Photos: Mercedes,