2016 Australian GP: Hamilton grabs pole position

Melbourne, Australia - Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg on Saturday, as F1's new qualifying  format proved to be anti-climactic.

Hamilton's time of 1min23.837 at the Albert Park circuit was three-tenths of a second faster than Rosberg, with third and fourth place filled by the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

The new qualifying format of rolling eliminations every 90 seconds failed to produce an intended shake-up in the grid order, and in the third and final qualifying session, many drivers chose to save tires for the race rather than try to better the times of the cars ahead.

As it happened: 2016 Australian GP Qualifying 

Fans were streaming out of the grandstands and the leading drivers were out of their cars with minutes left in the session.