FORMULA 1 2018 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX: QUALIFYING *** SPOILERS ***

Kimi knows what to do tomorrow on the first corner if he wants one more year.

 

Looks like we will see a repeat of last year. Looks like race pace will be close, but quali will continue to be a Mercfest.

Hopefully Vet or Ver can avoid trouble and have an outside chance again

 

Praying for some rain...

Robb

 

Congrats to Haas. Pretty darn good to qualify 6th and 7th

 

Depends on the tires lasting but for sure, the Mercs are faster. Maybe a lot faster.

 

Don't be too upset guys ...remember 2017 Melbourne?

 

The MB is too good. Shame Bottas isn't going to be a challenge to Hammy and beat him like Rosberg did in 2016. If you want excitement watch MotoGP.

 

I guess Alonso's dream of being on the podium this year looks pretty much in doubt.

Haas appears ready to be this year's "Force India"

Toro Rossa and Sauber are completely lost.

 

I hope Max doesn't take out Seb and Kimi at the start.

 

grid positions

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Lewis said he used the same mode in Q2/Q3 ,which is hard to believe ,but then again some other drivers also improved by big margins Q2/Q3 .

So it is possible it was also largely down to track evolution?

Vettel was the exception ,and he did say he tried to brake a bit later at T13 ....which didn't work out.

 

what are they expecting the driver's to do with such a massive hideous trophy? What nonsense.

 

What an unexpected result.

 

Actually I quite like that mini wheel/tire - better than one those Santander (or some other sponsor logo shape) trophies or whatnot...

 

Gotta be a bit sorry for Ricci, Horner said he had never seen him so angry before.

So he will start 8th,uniquely, on the Super Softs, so RBR might be still able to get on the podium.

Just hope Ferrari let Kimi do his own race ,not just there to help out Vettel.

 

Can’t argue with P1. Ham drove a fantastic lap and the Merc is clearly the class of the field. That’s unbeatable. But race day is a different matter so let’s not give up all hope until after Sunday....

Ferrari got closer than I expected. I hope they have a better race car like last year.

Haas - great result! Well done.

McLaren - must be laughing at TR now..?!

TR - oh dear. Looks like the Honda PU is just as hopeless as last year. Bad luck. The miracle hasn’t happened.

Williams - with a decent driver a second faster, think of what could have been... Bring in Kunica ASAP!

 

https://www.racefans.net/2018/03/24/mercedes-q3-party-mode-scary-sucks-ricciardo/

Ricciardo so right. Prior to this it looked like we would actually have a 3 way challenge on our hands, Merc, Ferrari and Red Bull all challenging with each other on Saturday AND Sunday. Why bother watching if we already know the end result?

 

Meanwhile Wolff has admitted there IS a party mode. So Lewis is lying again, obviously to make himself look better.

 

Good on Haas but for those in the press that thought Ferrari were in trouble because just .5 sec ahead of Haas should have known there was no way Haas could realistically be that close.

Also, last year Kimi was .85 sec behind pole sitter, now .6. I expect without his error Vettel would be closer.

In any case Melbourne always throws up surprises and not necessarily representative. Elton is good around here, especially at the first chicane hence Bottas overcooking it there to keep up.

 

True. And pretty shi--y comment by him when confronted with it:

Hopefully we'll see snarky smile wiped off his face tomorrow.

 

Ricciardo: Any top driver could get pole with Mercedes advantage

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/135008