The Malta Independent on Sunday
Hamilton takes record 7th pole in Melbourne
Motor-Racing Australian F1 Grand Prix
been dominant in Formula One in recent years, but both Ferrari and Red Bull made strides last year and are hoping to challenge for the championship this season.
“I think everyone else wants to see them get challenged a bit more,” said Ricciardo. “That was a little bit of a punch in the stomach to everyone. I know obviously they’re loving it, they’re in a good position. But everyone else is hating it.”
It wasn’t all good news for Mercedes, however, as Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, crashed at the start of the final qualifying session and finished in 10th place. He could drop another five places on the starting grid if another gearbox is needed.
Bottas briefly veered off the track going into Turn 2 and then lost his traction, sliding into a wall at high speed. The crash did serious damage to the right side of the car, tearing off both tires and scattering the track with debris. Bottas walked away without any injuries.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the team was lucky the damage wasn’t too extensive and that Bottas would be able to compete today. But the crash was a blow for the Finnish driver, who had finished last season strongly and was looking to push Hamilton at the start of this year.
“This is a moment where you could start to question yourself,” Wolff said. “And this in Race 1 is not good for the psychology of the driver, so we’re trying to give him all the support we can.”
Ferrari looked capable of matching Mercedes’ speed early in yesterday’s qualifying, as both Raikkonen and Vettel went out fast with their ultra-soft tires.
“It was a real surprise to see how quick the Ferraris were, the speeds they already had on the straights,” Hamilton said. “They’ve obviously made an improvement to their power mode.”
And though Hamilton maintained his dominance in qualifying, Vettel believes Ferrari may have the advantage in today’s race with Bottas being forced to play catch-up. Vettel also outdueled the pole-sitting Hamilton here a year ago to win the race.
“Obviously, the gap is bigger than we want it to be,” Vettel said. “But we’ve seen many times now - 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 - that usually on Sunday things get a little bit closer.
“He’s free to have the party tonight, and hopefully Kimi and myself will have the party tomorrow.”
Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean of Haas took sixth and seventh places, respectively, followed by Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz of Renault in eighth and ninth. Magnussen, Grosjean and Hulkenberg will each move up a space on the grid due to Ric- ciardo’s penalty.
Ricciardo believes Mercedes is still beatable, despite the speed Hamilton displayed in qualifying.
“I think Lewis is very good. I don’t think he’s too good,” he said. “The buffer they had was a little bit disheartening, but we’ve got to try and figure it out.”
Wolff, too, is waiting to see whether Hamilton’s pole-setting lap was an “outlier” or simply Mercedes getting even faster thanks to off-season engine improvements.
“If you take the majority of timed laps in qualifying, the Ferraris, Red Bulls and Mercedes were always very close to each other,” Wolff said. “Within tenths (of a second) on some of the laps.”
Both McLaren drivers, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, failed to qualify for the final qualifying session and will start in 11th and 12th positions, respectively.
It’s not the best start for McLaren’s new partnership with Renault after ditching the Hondamade engines which the team had been using for the past three years.