Australian Grand Prix qualifying: Lewis Hamilton on pole, Valtteri Bottas hits wall

A new look grid and some new look cars, but the same old Melbourne as the 2018 season got under way. The Ferraris and the Mercedes looked pretty nippy as they got their first timed laps on the board, but Daniel Ricciardo - in his home race - was also showing excellent flashes of speed, with the McLaren of Fernando Alonso seeming impressive in these early laps.

It was Lewis Hamilton at the top of the card in the end, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas way down in ninth, outstripped by Renault's Carlos Sainz and Haas's Romain Grosjean amongst others.

It took ages for any cars to get out for Q2, with Max Verstappen eventually venturing out on super-softs to enjoy an empty track.

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg had a nasty lock-up and venture into the gravel.

Hamilton then lopped half a second off Kimi Raikkonen's time and happily stayed at the top of the board - until Sebastian Vettel took a tenth off his time as the clock ticked over to zero.

Disappointing for the McLarens, both of whom missed out on Q3, although Alonso declared himself happy with his performance.

Terrible from Bottas, getting the session red-flagged as he spun wide and went into the wall.

When they resumed, Vettel continued to push Hamilton as best he could.

And then the Brit showed why he's still the man to catch by setting a new track record to take his seventh pole position on this circuit.

Good stuff from Raikkonen as well, outqualifying his Ferrari colleague at the last as well.

New season, same as the old season? Some pleasant needle between Hamilton and Vettel, with the Ferrari and Mercedes cars looking very competitive.

Valtteri Bottas's mistake in Q3 was a surprising glitch, ruining his lap and making his team's life very difficult prior to Sunday's race. The Finn had a similar accident in the actual race a few years back, when driving for Williams, but Mercedes would be expecting better from their man. Toto Wolff's look of horror at the pit wall was something to see.

Verstappen looks like he could be a contender on this track - particularly if there's some rainfall during the race.

Hamilton - Verstappen - Vettel