Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel takes pole for F1 Australian GP
Vettel qualified in a time of 1 minute, 27.407 seconds around the Albert Park circuit, and was joined in an all-Red Bull front row by teammate Mark Webber, who was 0.4 seconds behind.
Reigning Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel claimed the pole position for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday in an unusual qualifying session held on race day.
Vettel qualified in a time of 1 minute, 27.407 seconds around the Albert Park circuit, and was joined in an all-Red Bull front row by teammate Mark Webber, who was 0.4 seconds behind.
Lewis Hamilton qualified third in his first race for Mercedes, ahead of the Ferrari pair Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.
The second and third sessions of qualifying were rescheduled for Sunday after a series of rain delays and the onset of darkness prevented them from being held Saturday.
Sunday’s sessions were held on a track damp from morning rain. In the second session, intermediate tires were used — except for McLaren’s Sergio Perez, who took an unsuccessful gamble on slicks — but the drying conditions meant the flying laps in final qualifying were all on the softer slick tires.
Vettel claimed the 37th pole of his career, and his third in four years at Albert Park.