Nico Rosberg has "high hopes" of upsetting the odds and beating Lewis Hamilton to the chequered flag at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The 30-year-old German will start from the front row, but behind Hamilton after finishing Saturday’s qualifying session more than three-tenths of a second slower than his Mercedes team-mate.

And while Rosberg, who is bidding to prevent Hamilton from winning his third successive championship, still fancies his chances on Sunday, he admitted he was surprised by the size of the gap to his main rival.

“He just had a great day and my day wasn’t so great,” said Rosberg. “It is having the feel for the car and being able to push all the way through.

“You can hear it in his comments, he just felt his way through it, and I was not 100 per cent comfortable today.

“The last lap was good, so I made that stick, but I was just not fast enough. Everything needs to be spot on to be on pole and today it just wasn’t.

“But there is always tomorrow, the regulations are different, there are definitely going to be some curveballs in the race so I have high hopes. ”

Formula One’s revamped qualifying system is already facing the axe after its underwhelming debut here in Melbourne.

The final competitive lap was posted with more than three minutes of the session remaining, leaving millions of fans staring at an empty track.

“It is good that F1 is trying something, but today is the wrong way, especially with Q3,” Rosberg added.

“The best quote was from Damon Hill who said Lewis could have waved his own chequered flag, and that is not ideal.

“The safest way is to go back to last year’s format because that was exciting to watch.”