Mercedes dominate as Lewis Hamilton leads front-row lockout in Melbourne

Early season dominance was expected for Mercedes after their seamless winter testing but Formula One fans had hoped at least to see the chasing pack close the gap to the champions.

Those hopes were blown away on a windy Saturday at Albert Park in Melbourne where Lewis Hamilton stormed to a dominant pole position in qualifying for the opening Australian Grand Prix.

The double world champion will be joined again on the front row for Sunday's race by Nico Rosberg, a sight all-too-familiar from last year when the 'Silver Arrows' hogged 18 out of 19 poles and took 16 of 19 wins.

While Hamilton's lap was nearly six-tenths of a second ahead of a disappointed Rosberg, the one-and-a-half second gap to the third-fastest, Felipe Massa, was truly cavernous.

“It is (a bigger gap than last year),” the Williams driver told reporters. “For sure, it’s not great to see this difference but we keep working, keep fighting.”

Hamilton’s pole was his 39th and Mercedes’ 12th in succession. Williams’ record of 24 consecutive poles may be in peril.

Victory on Sunday would appear a formality, with perhaps the only suspense reserved for whether Rosberg can provide a genuine challenge.

Hamilton set the early marker during the final phase of qualifying but roared through his last lap to beat the time.

The Briton also started on pole last year but suffered a reliability problem and retired from the race as Rosberg enjoyed a fuss-free run to victory.

“I feel incredibly blessed to have this car,” Hamilton said. “Last year showed that even if I didn’t have a good first race it wasn’t the end of the world.”

It wasn’t all smiles at Mercedes with Rosberg, whose championship battle with Hamilton last year turned volatile at times, left deflated by his day.

He took a spin into the grass in the final session of qualifying after complaining of an engine cut-out in the second.

He denied any problem with his car or that he was any less endowed with pace than Hamilton.

“It wasn’t a great day today but of course I’m really thankful to the team for the car they’ve given me. It’s unbelievable,” said the German.

“For sure Lewis is quick but I didn’t get my laps together today so I’m not worried about pace at all, to be honest.

“I’ll definitely give it everything and hopefully put on a good show for everyone.”

Given that Williams are powered by Mercedes, Massa could only shrug and laugh when asked the awkward question as to where the difference lay between the teams’ performance.

“If it’s the same engine, the difference should be in the car,” he said, raising chuckles at the post-qualifying media conference.

“I hope we have the same engine. I believe we have the same engine. So it’s the car!”

Massa's team-mate Valtteri Bottas qualified sixth behind the Ferraris, but the Finn suffered back pain during the sessions and was taken to hospital for checks.

Though Bottas may be uncertain for the race, Williams performance boss Rob Smedley saw promise in their showing after an encouraging winter testing.

“Reasonably happy with that. To get the first one out of the way and be in a reasonable position,” he said.

“Felipe’s done a great lap, he’s put it all together. And the good thing is there’s still margin there, he could have gone quicker again. We were just learning in these conditions through the qualifying.

“We are here to win, but being realistic that gap is very big to Mercedes. So that’s the one (the gap) I’m looking at. What happens behind is of interest, but it’s of less interest.”

Ferrari, Massa’s former team, was foremost in the Brazilian’s mind however.

“We see the difference in the lap-times between me, Sebastian (Vettel) and Kimi (Raikkonen) and also Valtteri, it’s pretty small,” he said.

“It won’t be easy fighting with Ferrari but we are there. We are really looking forward that both (our) cars can start the season well.”

Red Bull were not in the same league, Massa added.

Daniel Ricciardo, who qualified seventh, complained of reliability problems all day while Daniil Kvyat could manage only 13th after a gearbox problem.

“I think Red Bull is not really there for the moment,” Massa said. “I’m sure Red Bull will get there because they are really strong.

“But for the moment Ferrari is really strong and made a big step forward compared to last year.”