Australian GP: Q2 and Q3 postponed

This has not happened since the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka in 2010. The race management of the Australian Grand Prix had no choice but to postpone the last two qualifying sessions until tomorrow morning after waiting a long time as conditions improve on the track. The arrival of night no longer offered enough time for the drivers to put together the entire grid for the start in Melbourne (ten hours difference between France and Australia).

The weather was already rainy for Q1. The drivers took to the track on wet tires but there were many errors. Lewis Hamilton was the first to make a mistake, damaging the rear wing of his Mercedes W04 following a slight contact with the tire wall, but the Briton was able to continue the session and qualify. Felipe Massa was also one of the victims, losing his front wing for the same reasons, but the driver of the Team was able to continue. Caterham drivers F1 Team both made mistakes in the same way as Esteban Gutiérrez.

Nico Rosberg was the fastest when the drivers took advantage of a brief lull to put on the intermediate tires. The Flèche d’Argent driver achieved a time of 1’43”380 ahead of Fernando Alonso by three tenths. Romain Grosjean achieved the third fastest time of the session ahead of Sergio Pérez, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Jean-Eric Vergne and Lewis Hamilton. The French of Toro Rosso impressed when the cars were fitted with wet tires and was certainly hoping for qualifying to continue to make a difference. Adrian Sutil is the last qualifier for the second session.

Despite the postponement of the last two sessions, the result of Q1 will be maintained to constitute the starting grid. Pastor Maldonado failed at the gates of Q2 three tenths behind the Force India driver and will start from 17th place. Esteban Gutiérrez will start alongside the driver Williams ahead of Marussia drivers Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton. Caterham F1 Team will start from the last row with Giedo van der Garde 21st ahead of Charles Pic. The Frenchman from the Malaysian team is the only driver to be outside the 107% mark but the race direction should be lenient given the conditions encountered.

Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix will resume tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. (1 a.m. in France) and will be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr.