Lewis Hamilton showed Mercedes wet weather hand in Australia as he took his 31st pole of his career in difficult conditions at Albert Park. The Brit looked to have missed out as Red Bull new boy Daniel Riccardo took a sensational provisional pole, which in the end was good enough for 2nd place on his first outing for the Milton Keynes team. However for his team mate and World Champion Sebastian Vettel could only manage 13th after a late crash at turns 3 and 4 for Kimi Raikkonen who qualified 12. Today the world also witnessed how poor Lotus really are as they qualified 21st and 22nd out of 22 cars. New driver Pastor Maldonado didn't even manage to set a time and didn't complete the 107% rule meaning he may not race tomorrow. It was a great qualifying session for Kamui Kobayashi who got his Caterham to 15 on his F1 return. Also rookies Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat managed 4th and 8th on their debuts. But Hamilton and Riccardo will take the praise after what was a stunning session to start 2014.1. Lewis Hamilton 1:44.231
2. Daniel Ricciardo
3.Nico Rosberg
4. Kevin Magnussen
5.Fernando Alonso
6.Jean-Eric Vergne
7.Nico Hulkenberg
8.Daniil Kvyat
9.Felipe Massa
10.Valtteri Bottas
11.Jenson Button
12.Kimi Raikkonen
13.Sebastian Vettel
14.Adrian Sutil
15.Kamui Kobayashi
16.Sergio Perez
17.Max Chilton
18.Jules Bianchi
19.Esteban Gutierrez
20.Marcus Ericson
21.Romain Grosjean
22.Pastor Maldonado - NO TIME SET (107%. NOT COMPLETED)
2. Daniel Ricciardo
3.Nico Rosberg
4. Kevin Magnussen
5.Fernando Alonso
6.Jean-Eric Vergne
7.Nico Hulkenberg
8.Daniil Kvyat
9.Felipe Massa
10.Valtteri Bottas
11.Jenson Button
12.Kimi Raikkonen
13.Sebastian Vettel
14.Adrian Sutil
15.Kamui Kobayashi
16.Sergio Perez
17.Max Chilton
18.Jules Bianchi
19.Esteban Gutierrez
20.Marcus Ericson
21.Romain Grosjean
22.Pastor Maldonado - NO TIME SET (107%. NOT COMPLETED)