Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in the rain qualifiers for the Australian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes racer took advantage of the ever-improving conditions on the track after the rain subsided and drove the fastest lap in the final seconds. Ricciardo impressed the home fans as he swung to the top of the timers towards the end of the last part of the qualifiers, but in the end Hamilton was faster.

Nico Rosberg was third, ahead of McLarn rookie Kevin Magnussen. Fernando Alonso was fifth, followed by Jean-Eric Vergne and Nico Hulkenberg. Daniil Kvyat surprised and made his way to the last part of the qualifiers, eventually setting the eighth fastest time. The ninth was Valtteri Bottas, who will lose five starting places due to the change of gearbox. Tenth was Williams ’second racer Felipe Massa.

The second part of the qualifiers was fateful for the three world champions. Jenson Button got stuck in eleventh place and Kimi Raikkonen shattered in a quick lap and stayed in twelfth. The place behind him was finished by the current world champion Sebastian Vettel.

The Lotus team suffered a real defeat. Romain Grosjean was knocked out in the first half after he drove off the track in a quick lap, but he couldn't fix the time due to the rain. Even worse was his teammate Pastor Maldonado, who didn't set the time at all, as he drove on the sand by the track in every attempt.

 

Australian GP, ​​qualifications:

	Racer	Team	Hour	Circles
1.	L. Hamilton	Mercedes	01:44.231	22
2.	D. Ricciardo	Red Bull	01:44.548	20
3.	N. Rosberg	Mercedes	01:44.595	21
4.	K. Magnussen	McLaren	01:45.745	19
5.	F. Alonso	Ferrari	01:45.819	21
6.	J. Vergne	Toro Rosso	01:45.864	21
7.	N. Hulkenberg	Force India	01:46.030	20
8.	D. Kvyat	Toro Rosso	01:47.368	20
9.	F. Massa	Williams	01:48.079	21
10.	V. Bottas	Williams	01:48.147	19
11.	J. Button	McLaren	01:44.437	13
12.	K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	01:44.494	13
13.	S. Vettel	Red Bull	01:44.668	13
14.	A. Sutil	Clean	01:45.655	12
15.	K. Kobayashi	Caterham	01:45.867	13
16.	S. Perez	Force India	01:47.293	13
17.	Mr. Chilton	Marussia	01:34.293	5
18.	J.Bianchi	Marussia	01:35.794	5
19.	E. Gutiérrez	Clean	01:35.117	7
20.	M. Ericsson	Caterham	01:35.157	5
21.	R. Grosjean	Lotus	01:36.993	6
22.	P. Maldonado	Lotus	No time	3