Melbourne, 15 March – This late afternoon qualifying session was supposed to produce the first real picture of the current hierarchy among the eleven teams. With the aim of doing a single very fast lap – one aspect of qualifying that has remained the same for this year – the result ought to have reflected the pecking order down pit lane. However, the threat of rain turned to reality towards the end of Q1 and clouded the issue.

Fernando Alonso was reasonably happy with fifth place, while Kimi Raikkonen made a mistake in the treacherous conditions right at the end of Q2, clipping the wall with the front of his F14 T which meant he was a spectator for rest of the afternoon, although he probably would not have made the cut to the top ten shoot-out anyway. He will have a tough race tomorrow, trying to make his way up the order from twelfth place.

The Red Bull garage had a premature celebration when it looked as though local hero Daniel Ricciardo would take pole in his first race for the team, but he was pipped at the very last by Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, whose team-mate Nico Rosberg set the third fastest time, confirming the Mercedes’ status as top car in winter testing. The best rookie was Kevin Magnussen, fourth for McLaren, while Fernando will be lining up his F14 T on the third row of the grid alongside the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne who was sixth.

Kimi will share sixth row with reigning champion Sebastian Vettel, only twelfth in the Red Bull.