Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for the first race of the 2018 Formula 1 season with an outrageous qualifying lap which was 0.664 seconds faster than anybody else, making it his 73rd career pole position and seventh in Australia, which is the most pole positions of any driver for an Australian Grand Prix, surpassing Ayrton Senna in the process.
Unfortunately, Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas crashed out during Q3 without having set a time, and thus qualified in tenth place - and as a result of his crash, which was a huge impact, it is likely that he will be taking a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change - fortunately, though, he was ok. Meanwhile, fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen qualified on the front row for Ferrari with team-mate Sebastian Vettel qualifying in third place. The two Red Bulls followed in fourth and fifth place, with Max Verstappen heading team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, however, the latter has a 3-place grid penalty for returning to the pit lane too quickly under red flag conditions during practice, which seemed rather harsh.
Starting grid (it takes into account Ricciardo's grid penalty, and it is being assumed that Bottas will take a 5-place grid penalty as mentioned earlier):
Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Kevin Magnussen - Haas-Ferrari
Romain Grosjean - Haas-Ferrari
Nico Hulkenberg - Renault
Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Carlos Sainz - Renault
Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Renault
Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren-Renault
Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
Lance Stroll - Williams-Mercedes
Esteban Ocon - Force India-Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes
Brendon Hartley - Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda
Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
Charles Leclerc - Sauber-Ferrari
Sergey Sirotkin - Williams-Mercedes
Pierre Gasly - Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda