F1's latest, greatest farce? How qualifying in Australia let down the world of motorsport

Oh dear, oh dear. The new qualifying format took a bow along with the 2016 season, and it seemed as if some teams hadn’t really thought this through at all. The cars streamed on to the track as the clock started ticking, but they hadn’t considered when the clock was likely to stop.

Haas’s Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez found themselves in the midst of decent laps when Q1 came to a close, leaving them shamefacedly stealing back to the pits and out of contention. Dany Kvyat of Red Bull also made a quick exit, out in P18.

Eliminated: Wehrlein, Haryanto, Gutierrez, Grosjean, Kvyat, Nasr, Ericsson.

The idea behind the elimination qualifying was to get more cars out on track, making a more interesting spectacle. After the Q1 debacle, teams were more cautious for Q2, leaving the track, well, entirely empty at points.

Not enthralling viewing. Good stuff (ish) from McLaren – their boys start firmly in the middle of the pack.

Eliminated: Magnussen, Palmer, Button, Alonso, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Perez.

The Aussie fans were disappointed to see Daniel Riccardo of Red Bull knocked out first in Q3, but not as disappointed as Sebastian Vettel must have been when the Ferrari garage accepted that second row was good enough and he wasn’t going to run again.

Still, it gave him a chance to get himself a shower and into his civvies ready for the press conference before Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had even got off the track.

Eliminated: Ricciardo, Sainz, Massa, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Vettel

Oh, look at that, an all-Mercedes front row with Lewis Hamilton in pole. Who’d have guessed?

It was fun to start with, but perhaps not for the reasons the powers-that-be intended: F1 teams, with all their money, essentially ended up throwing their winter’s hard work away for their first qualifying session of the season because they failed to do some fairly simple mathematics. It triggered panic and mind-numbing caution, understandably, meaning drivers were pushed to record one flying lap and then get off the track, leaving it sparsely populated.

As the qualifying clock ticked down, drivers weren’t out there looking for a quicker time; they were back in the garage or waving to their fans. Speaking of the fans, when it became evident this was another Mercedes lock-out and there would be no drama today, they began streaming for the exits. Not the exciting spectacle we were promised.

So now look at the grid. This is the new qualifying, same as the old qualifying – except Mercedes are now even further ahead:

Red Bull’s poor start to the session. They are clearly unimpressed with the new format, hence this caustic tweet.

Max Verstappen has started brightly again and will be pushing those Ferraris from the start tomorrow.

If you’d asked me a month ago, I’d have given you the answer Hamilton-Rosberg-Vettel. Then they talked about revamping qualifying, and I’d have said Hamilton-Rosberg-Vettel.

Then qualifying actually happened, and I’m sticking with it – Hamilton-Rosberg-Vettel. Hoping for a minor miracle and a Ricciardo win in front of a partisan home crowd, though.