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Defending champion Lewis Hamilton edged out his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to secure pole position, breaking the lap record at the Bahrain International Circuit in the process.

Ferrari was a keen competitor to the Silver Arrows in qualifying, unlike at the previous race in Melbourne when the team had to order their drivers not to take part as a way of conserving tyres.

Hamilton was only fourth fastest after running wide at the final corner on his first attempt in Q3, but he produced the fastest lap of the weekend so far – a time of one minute, 29.493 seconds – when it counted to take the 51st pole of his Formula 1 career.

Rosberg led the way following the first runs in Q3, just under two tenths clear of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari. Rosberg improved by more than three tenths of a second on his second attempt, but Hamilton remained 0.077 seconds clear.

Vettel took third position, improving only slightly on his first Q3 effort, while team-mate Kimi Raikkonen dropped time in the first sector on his final lap so ended up fourth.

The rest of the Q3 runners only had sufficient time to complete single runs, thanks to the controversial elimination format being retained for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull was best-of-the-rest, nearly three tenths clear of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

Felipe Massa was just 0.002 seconds down in seventh, while Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India completed the top eight.

Romain Grosjean’s Haas and the Toro Rossos of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr all paid the price for staying in the pits after making single runs in Q2.

Hulkenberg was the only driver to attempt two runs in this segment and his second flying lap was enough to lift him to eighth position and knock Grosjean out of the final Q3 spot.

The lack of effort to return to the track despite having time to do so suggested Haas and Toro Rosso strategically preferred free choice of tyres for the race start, rather than higher grid positions.

Less than three tenths of a second covered Grosjean in ninth to Jenson Button in P14.

Verstappen and Sainz ended up P10 and P11, ahead of McLaren-Honda rookie Stoffel Vandoorne – who outqualified team-mate Button on his Formula 1 debut – and the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez and Button.

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat endured another disappointing qualifying session, ending up P15 in a car comfortably quick enough for Q3.

Sergio Perez and the works Renaults of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer dropped out in Q1, along with both Manors and Saubers.

Perez only had time for one run, which proved insufficient to make the cut as others improved.

Pascal Wehrlein was the star of qualifying and was able to place his Manor-Mercedes in P16 with a last-gasp effort. Great achievement considering the DTM champion was less than three tenths shy of being good enough for Q2.

Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber was 0.034 seconds slower in P17, ahead of Perez, Magnussen (who will start from the pitlane after missing the weighbridge in practice) and Palmer.

Rio Haryanto’s Manor and Felipe Nasr’s Sauber propped up the timesheet.

Both were well adrift of the rest after completing solitary runs and had no time for a second effort.

Nasr’s lap was spoiled by a big lock-up under braking at Turn 1, so he ended up slowest.

The elimination qualifying was out in force for the second time despite unfavourable opinions from the drivers, team bosses and fans. The mixed up grid did not shuffle the pecking order and yet again Mercedes secured the front row.

Hopefully the sport’s rule makers can see this and reinstate the previous qualifying format. Seeing no cars on track as the minutes tick by brings no excitement, thrill or drama. For the television viewers and fans watching track side.

As for Lewis Hamilton, this 51st pole position is a grand achievement not only for the advancement in Formula 1 technology but the ability to fightback. Bring on the Bahrain Grand Prix and the duel in the desert.

Bahrain Grand Prix, qualifying positions:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m29.493s
2    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m29.570s
3    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m30.012s
4    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m30.244s
5    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-TAG Heuer    1m30.854s
6    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m31.153s
7    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m31.155s
8    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m31.620s
9    Romain Grosjean    Haas-Ferrari    1m31.756s
10    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m31.772s
11    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m31.816s
12    Stoffel Vandoorne    McLaren-Honda    1m31.934s
13    Esteban Gutierrez    Haas-Ferrari    1m31.945s
14    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m31.998s
15    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-TAG Heuer    1m32.241s
16    Pascal Wehrlein    Manor-Mercedes    1m32.806s
17    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m32.840s
18    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m32.911s
19    Jolyon Palmer    Renault    1m33.438s
20    Rio Haryanto    Manor-Mercedes    1m34.190s
21    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m34.388s
22    Kevin Magnussen    Renault    1m33.181s

Nico Rosberg kicked off his new season with style with a fourth successive Formula 1 victory in a dramatic Australian Grand Prix which featured a nasty crash involving Fernando Alonso.

The Mercedes driver achieved his 15th career win, continuing his triumph form since the Mexican Grand Prix from 2015.

Rosberg finished eight seconds ahead of his team-mate and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, while early race leader Sebastian Vettel had to settle with third for Ferrari.

The Australian Grand Prix, though, will be remembered for Alonso walking away from a lap 19 crash in which his McLaren  Honda ran into the back of Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas, slammed into the wall and then rolled violently through the gravel trap, forcing a red flag and a twenty minutes stoppage.

Following the elimination qualifying, which will revert back to the old format from the Bahrain Grand Prix after an urgent meeting of team bosses prior to the start, the race overall was a shot in the arm for the sport, despite the latest Mercedes one-two.

It started with Vettel making a brilliant start to come through between the front-row duo of Hamilton and Rosberg to take the lead into the first corner.

Behind the four-time champion, Rosberg edged Hamilton wide at Turn 1, and doing so allowed Raikkonen to nip through on the inside to claim second.

Hamilton was relegated to sixth position behind not only the Ferraris and Rosberg, but also Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Felipe Massa’s Williams.

It took four laps for Hamilton to overtake the Williams, and though soon up behind Verstappen he was unable to get close enough to pass, which allowed the leading trio to pull away by the first round of pit-stops.

The tyre choice was fascinating as Vettel and Raikkonen remained on the super-softs Pirelli, while Rosberg switched to softs, with an adrift Hamilton on mediums as Mercedes tried to get him to the end of the race on a one-stop strategy.

The race was then transformed with the crash involving Alonso and Gutierrez, with all cars returning to the pits and many taking advantage of the red flag period to change tyres.

Rosberg followed Hamilton onto mediums, but the Ferraris stuck with super-softs and Daniel Ricciardo and the Toro Rossos softs as they restarted behind the safety car in the order Vettel, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr, Hamilton and Massa.

Raikkonen soon retired from third, his Ferrari appearing to suffer a power-unit failure, leading to flames emerging from the engine cover as he stopped outside his garage.

Vettel could not pull away on his super-softs and pitted on lap 35 of 57, handing the lead to Rosberg.

Hamilton was promoted to third by Vettel and the Toro Rossos stopping for tyres, then moved down the inside of the soon-to-pit Ricciardo for second with 16 laps to go, leaving him ten seconds behind his team-mate.

Rosberg managed to hold his ground over the closing laps to clinch his 15th win in Formula 1.

A small mistake by Hamilton on lap 51 brought Vettel into play for second, but the champion kept his rival at bay to claim the runner-up spot, helped by the Ferrari locking up and running onto the grass at the penultimate corner with two laps to the flag.

Ricciardo claimed fourth, followed by Massa, with Romain Grosjean scoring points for Haas on its debut, the first new team to do so since Toyota with Mika Salo in 2002.

Grosjean benefited from being able to make his sole tyre change under the red flag, meaning he effectively completed the race without pitting.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was seventh, followed by Valtteri Bottas for Williams, both unable to pass Grosjean despite following the Haas for half the race.

Sainz and Verstappen caught this group after their pitstops, and had a minor clash near the end that resulted in a spin for Verstappen.

Neither Renault scored on the works team’s return as Jolyon Palmer could only managed P11 while Kevin Magnussen suffered  a first-lap puncture but made it to the flag in P13.

For the second successive year in Melbourne Daniil Kvyat retired before the start, with the Red Bull grinding to a halt just behind the safety car as the grid formed.

So an exciting race and yet a familiar result on the podium. If Ferrari can challenge Mercedes on a consist basis, then we are set for a good season ahead.

Australian Grand Prix, 57 laps:

1    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1h48m15.565s
2    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    8.606s
3    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    9.643s
4    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-TAG Heuer    34.330s
5    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    58.979s
6    Romain Grosjean    Haas-Ferrari    1m12.081s
7    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m14.199s
8    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m15.153s
9    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m15.680s
10    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m16.833s
11    Jolyon Palmer    Renault    1m23.399s
12    Kevin Magnussen    Renault    1m25.606s
13    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m31.699s
14    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1 Lap
15    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1 Lap
16    Pascal Wehrlein    Manor-Mercedes    1 Lap
–    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    Retirement
–    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    Retirement
–    Rio Haryanto    Manor-Mercedes    Retirement
–    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    Collision
–    Esteban Gutierrez    Haas-Ferrari    Collision
–    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-TAG Heuer    Not started

Drivers’ standings:

1    Nico Rosberg    25
2    Lewis Hamilton    18
3    Sebastian Vettel    15
4    Daniel Ricciardo    12
5    Felipe Massa    10
6    Romain Grosjean    8
7    Nico Hulkenberg    6
8    Valtteri Bottas    4
9    Carlos Sainz    2
10    Max Verstappen    1

Constructors’ standings:

1    Mercedes    43
2    Ferrari    15
3    Williams-Mercedes    14
4    Red Bull-TAG Heuer    12
5    Haas-Ferrari    8
6    Force India-Mercedes    6
7    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    3
8    Renault    0
9    McLaren-Honda    0
10    Sauber-Ferrari    0
11    Manor-Mercedes    0

Next race: Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain International Circuit. April 1-3.

The defending world champion Lewis Hamilton kicked off the new season with his 50th pole position at Melbourne, as the sport experimented with a new qualifying format for the first time since 2006.

In order to improve the show, new rules have been added so that the drivers will be under pressure to perform and more track action.

The elimination on each driver at every 90 seconds was a bid to mix-up the grid.

This created a rush to do fast lap times early on each session, and yet left insufficient times for slower runners to react to the threat of elimination.

Sure, there was a sense of excitement in Q1 and Q2, but the most important Q3 was an anti-climax.

In fact, the final qualifying segment was disastrous as the two Mercedes bothered to attempt second runs. Rival Ferrari just gave up after one run…

So the end result was Mercedes taking the front row thanks to Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg with challenger Sebastian Vettel third quickest.

That’s the same top three as last season’s qualifying without the new elimination format…

Hamilton led the way after the first runs and that time was already good enough for pole before he improved on his second attempt, thanks to team-mate Nico Rosberg falling short of the world champion’s earlier benchmark with his own final effort.

The remaining Q3 runners sat in their garages to watch themselves be eliminated from contention, and the pressure to get in and out of the pits in time for the Silver Arrows’ second runs meant there were no cars on track for the final two minutes of the session.

The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen locked out row two, but ended up well adrift of the Mercedes, despite being promisingly close in final practice.

Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen qualified an excellent fifth, narrowly ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams but over a second clear of Carlos Sainz Jr.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top eight, just 0.007 seconds slower than Sainz.

The McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, and the two works Renaults of Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen, were the early victims in Q2 with none of the four bothering to attempt second runs.

Alonso ended up in P12, just under two tenths faster than Button, while rookie Palmer edged Magnussen out by 0.141 seconds.

Sainz managed to escape elimination, on the edge of being dropped out after his first flying lap, but Valtteri Bottas failed to improve before the clock ran out on his Williams so he ended up P11, behind Force India pair Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

Both Manor drivers were sitting in their garages when Q1 elimination began, before Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean were the first drivers to be eliminated while still on-track, after running out of time while attempting to go faster on a second set of tyres.

Daniil Kvyat was the highest profile casualty, ending up P18 fastest in a car easily good enough for the top ten…

The Red Bull driver was seen walking through the pitlane as his elimination time came up.

Sauber’s Felipe Nasr also ran out of time while on track, ending up P17.

That left Palmer battling Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson for the final Q2 spot.

Palmer vaulted up to P14, just ahead of Magnussen, with his final flying effort, while Ericsson locked up heavily at the penultimate corner so dropped to P16 and into elimination.

The new qualifying format was a complete joke. Confusing and unnecessary for the sake of the sport in an attempt to make it more exciting and unpredictable. In the end, the top drivers and teams qualified where they should be, rather than a mixed up grid.

The sport’s governing body needs to tweak this format to make it work but it was uncalled for. There are many issues with Formula 1 at the moment and qualifying is not one of them. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix!

Qualifying results, Melbourne:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m23.837s
2    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m24.197s
3    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m24.675s
4    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m25.033s
5    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m25.434s
6    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m25.458s
7    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m25.582s
8    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-TAG Heuer    1m25.589s
9    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m25.753s
10    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m25.865s
11    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m25.961s
12    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1m26.125s
13    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m26.304s
14    Jolyon Palmer    Renault    1m27.601s
15    Kevin Magnussen    Renault    1m27.742s
16    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m27.435s
17    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m27.958s
18    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-TAG Heuer    1m28.006s
19    Romain Grosjean    Haas-Ferrari    1m28.322s
20    Esteban Gutierrez    Haas-Ferrari    1m29.606s
21    Pascal Wehrlein    Manor-Mercedes    1m29.642s
22    Rio Haryanto    Manor-Mercedes    1m29.627s

This is the definitive colour scheme for the Renault R.S.16 racing car in the upcoming Formula 1 season, as opposed to the launch livery which was unveiled on the eve of pre-season testing.

The initial look from the French manufacturer was complete black with flashes of yellow.

Renault, which took over Lotus name towards the end of last year following protracted negotiations, ran with that livery throughout the two pre-season tests at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.

But it has always been Renault’s intention to return to its more traditional roots in terms of its colour scheme.

The R.S.16 now sports a matt yellow body, with the front and rear wings in black and some small touches of gold towards the rear.

“Today is about what’s in the season to come, and the important thing is the colour, that it says a lot about your identity and who you stand for,” said Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul at the livery launch in Melbourne’s docklands area on March 16.

“Tonight is about our identity and what Renault stands for.

“I look around and it looks like people are trying to disappear from the tarmac, so we’ve gone for something different.

“I think it works well. We’ve gone for yellow, which has been the colour of Renault since 1946, so we’ve been true to our history.”

The colour is similar to that used on the Renault RS01 sportscar for its launch.

It is believed the matt finish across the entire car means a weight-saving of almost half a kilogram compared to the use of gloss.

Kudos to Team Enstone in adding a bold and vibrant colour as most of the Formula 1 grid are just shades of black and grey. The yellow livery definitely stands out.

Hopefully a bright colourful outlook can match the team’s performance during the 21-race calendar.

This is the new colour scheme for Scuderia Toro Rosso, which was unveiled at the Circuit de Catalunya on the start of the second pre-season test.

With a change from Renault to the Ferrari power unit, Toro Rosso was forced to delay the livery in order to focus on integrating the new engine. Hence the dark, plain look for the STR11 in the first pre-season test.

Ahead of the second and final test at the same venue, Toro Rosso drivers Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen rolled a cover off the new car in the pitlane.

The livery is once again predominantly dark blue, with an artistic ‘Red Bull’ on the engine cover.

On the rear wing, to replace former partner in oil company CEPSA, is Red Bull’s soft drink cola, ‘Simply Cola’, along with a variety of other Red Bull-based companies.

Toro Rosso completed a solid first week of running, with Verstappen and Sainz clocking up 231 and 216 laps respectively.

The combined total of 447 was second only to Mercedes whose drivers in Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg racked up an impressive 675 laps between them.

Toro Rosso said it had to use guesswork in accommodating the Ferrari engine at such a late stage, and it will – like the rest of the field – run new parts during the second test.

The late arrival of the C35 meant the Swiss team had to re-adjust their preparations. The late amendment to the Formula 1 world championship was also a factor.

Sauber’s technical director Mark Smith has commented that not debuting the C35 until the second test would “not hurt us too much”.

Speaking ahead of the roll out of the new car, which will take place in the Circuit de Catalunya pitlane on March 1, Kaltenborn said: “We want to clearly improve.”

“Obviously, there’s a certain position we’d like to achieve.

“But, to start with, it’s important to become established in midfield.

“Only then are we going to focus on individual positions.”

Felipe Nasr has previously acknowledged the threat of newcomer Haas and admits it will be tricky to know where Sauber will rank among their rivals.

“It’s difficult for me to predict how the positions behind the top teams are going to pan out this season – and where we’ll be able to line up in that part of the field,” he said.

“The whole team has been working very hard to explore areas in the car that we can improve. That’s why I’m confident that we’ve made progress.”

Team-mate Marcus Ericsson added: “The battle for positions is getting fiercer.

“But I’m convinced that, with the new car, we’re going to take a step forward so that we can finish in the points with greater consistency and under our own steam.

“Last year we managed a good start. In the second half of the season it was a harder struggle for us to score points.

“This season I’d like to see us being in contention for points and fighting on a level where speed is decisive.”

As for the livery, the blue and yellow colour scheme remains unchanged from the previous season but it’s very uninspiring. Hopefully the Ferrari-powered C35 is competitive and can fight with the other midfield teams in the upcoming championship despite the bland paint job.

Manor Racing unveiled their 2016 racing car, the MRT05, on the first official day of pre-season Formula 1 testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The team have even described the MRT05 as this is the best it has ever produced, thanks to a technical partnership with Mercedes and Williams.

Considered to the most powerful engine on the grid, the Mercedes power unit will aid performance for Manor Racing. In addition, the Williams engineered transmission and other key components is expected to bring the team much closer to competitiveness after six seasons adrift in the midfield pack.

Manor technical director John McQuilliam said the team was confident of a massive step forward in 2016.

“Even at this early stage of the game, we can easily say this is the best car we’ve ever launched,” he said.

“Certainly the most developed, the most ambitious and the most aggressive.

“The overall package is a very significant step forward, not just from last year, but from any of the cars from our stable.

“Yes, we have a long way to go from here in terms of developing the MRT05, but it’s already a dream package for the 154 Manor Racing people who’ve worked so hard to design and build it.”

Manor’s new racing director Dave Ryan, who arrived after the exits of founders John Booth and Graeme Lowdon last year, said he had been impressed by what he had seen at the team so far.

“It’s been a very busy time, but it has really served to underline everything I thought when I first agreed to join the team – a great little operation, with huge potential and the vision and ambition to make a big step forward,” Ryan said.

“The team did a laudable job last year given its circumstances over the previous winter.

“This year, with the package we have, we need to be every inch the professional racing outfit.”

Manor Racing only just made it to the start of the 2015 campaign after being rescued from administration on the eve of the season, and used a modified 2014 car for the year.

It has an all-rookie driver line-up in DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein and GP2 race winner Rio Haryanto.

This is the new Toro Rosso STR11. The Italian-based team have switched from Renault to Ferrari power units ahead of the new campaign – a significant change which necessitated a change in the new machine’s architecture and contributed to the STR11 debuting in a temporary dark blue livery.

The real 2016 colours scheme will revealed on February 29, a day before the second testing session.

Carlos Sainz is scheduled to drive on days one and three of this week’s four-day session, with 2015’s top rookie scorer Max Verstappen behind the wheel on days two and four.

A change in the engine department will be significant. From the under-powered Renault to hopefully a more competitive Ferrari power unit could aid performance.

Toro Rosso is expecting a top-five finish in the constructors’ championship this season.

A Force to be reckon with? This is the new VJM09 from Force India, which was presented to the media just a few moments before official pre-season testing at Barcelona.

Development driver Alfonso Celis Jr will have the unique opportunity to shakedown the new car on day one, before Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg take their turns later in the week.

Technical director Andrew Green confirmed the VJM09 was closely based on the predecessor. “You can say the B-spec car from last year formed a basis on which to build our 2016 one,” he said.

“We were in a situation in which the performance on track was very good, and in which the data we were getting correlated well to what we were expecting, so we knew we could continue to develop on a solid platform.”

“With the regulations likely to change for 2017, it didn’t really seem like an efficient use of our resources to start from scratch on a project that would have such a limited lifetime.”

There are high hopes for the Mercedes-powered VJM09 after Force India’s performance surge in the second half of the 2015 campaign.

The Silverstone-based outfit finished fifth in the constructors’ championship and is set to challenge Williams as the leading customer Mercedes runner.