Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position for the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, kicking off his season with the best possible start.
His teammate Jenson Button will start in second, giving McLaren their first front-row lockout since the 2009 European GP.
The surprise of the session was Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman will start third after a scintillating lap in his Lotus E20 to finish just four tenths off the lead pace.
Michael Schumacher starts alongside Grosjean after pushing his W03 within three thousandths of the Lotus.
Mark Webber heads the Red Bulls in P5 with Sebastian Vettel in P6, for what will be a disappointing result for the team which secured all but one pole last year.
Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa confirmed Ferrari’s worries with the Brazilian dropping out in Q2 in P16 whilst Alonso made an uncharacteristic error to end up in the gravel trap. He starts 12th.
Kimi Raikkonen couldn’t impress on his return after he encountered traffic and made a mistake during his flying lap in Q1, unfortunately his time not good enough to make Q2.
The HRT drivers both fell short of the 107% time and it’s yet to be confirmed if either will be allowed to race on Sunday.
2012 Australian GP Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:26.773 | 1:25.982 | 1:25.668 |
| 05. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:27.117 | 1:26.297 | 1:25.651 |
| 01. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:26.800 | 1:25.626 | 1:24.922 |
| 02. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:26.832 | 1:25.663 | 1:25.074 |
| 14. | B. Senna | Williams | 1:27.004 | 1:26.663 | |
| 12. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:26.888 | 1:26.494 | |
| 16. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:27.633 | 1:27.497 | |
| 09. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:27.464 | 1:26.314 | 1:26.451 |
| 08. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:26.803 | 1:25.908 | 1:25.908 |
| 13. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:26.182 | 1:26.590 | |
| 17. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:26.596 | No Time | |
| 20. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:29.018 | ||
| 18. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:27.758 | ||
| 04. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:26.586 | 1:25.571 | 1:25.336 |
| 07. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.763 | 1:24.469 | 1:25.686 |
| 03. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:26.498 | 1:25.845 | 1:25.302 |
| 11. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:26.493 | 1:26.429 | |
| 15. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:27.469 | 1:27.086 | |
| 23. | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:33.495 | ||
| 10. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:27.024 | 1:26.319 | No Time |
| 19. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:28.679 | ||
| 22. | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:31.670 | ||
| 21. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:30.923 | ||
| 24. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:33.643 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 1:32.214 | ||||
