Lewis Hamilton achieved his third successive pole position by setting the quickest time at the Chinese Grand Prix.

In additional to taking the number one spot in China, the Mercedes driver recored his 34th career pole position in Formula 1.

Holding off the Red Bulls must be a bonus to the 2008 world champion.

With qualifying held in wet conditions, initially with most running on wets before the intermediates became the tyre of choice.

Hamilton went fastest on his first run in Q3 then improved by almost half a second on his second run to consolidate his place.

With this pole position in China, Hamilton has now broken Jim Clark’s British record, with only Michael Schumacher (68), Ayrton Senna (65) and Sebastian Vettel (45) still ahead of him overall.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo will start second, setting a time six tenths slower than Hamilton on his final Q3 attempt.

This means the Australian has outqualified his team-mate Sebastian Vettel for the third time this season, with the defending world champion only in third place ahead of the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg had looked set to take provisional pole away from Hamilton on his second Q3 run, but he carried too much speed into the hairpin, running wide and preventing him from improving.

A spin at the final corner on his final attempt ensured that Rosberg could do no better than fourth.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fifth quickest having never threatened the top positions during qualifying, with the Williams pairing of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas closely matched in sixth and seventh respectively.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg qualified eighth, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

While Romain Grosjean put a Lotus into Q3 for the first time this season, despite ending up the slowest in the top ten shootout.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren driver Jenson Button were the big-name casualties during Q2.

Both were unable to set a good enough pace on their second set of intermediates to break into the top ten after being bumped out of it by well-timed improvements by Vergne, Massa and Hulkenberg.

Button, who complained of a lack of front tyre temperature, and Raikkonen both lapped quickly enough in the first two sectors to make Q3 on their final laps, but worsening conditions in the final sector made it impossible to improve overall.

Daniil Kvyat will start in P13 ahead of Adrian Sutil, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez.

Esteban Gutierrez was the fastest of those to fall in Q1.

The Sauber driver had looked set to seal a place in the second stage of qualifying with a late run on intermediates before a very poor final sector, including a wide moment at the final corner, ruined his attempt.

Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi beat Jules Bianchi to P18, with team-mate Marcus Ericsson outpacing the Marussia of Max Chilton.

Pastor Maldonado was classified P22 as he was unable to participate thanks to an engine problem that forced him to stop on track during FP3.

So a brilliant qualifying record for Mercedes. Four pole from four races with Lewis Hamilton setting a new British record with poles.

Can the Silver Arrows continue that impressive run into the race? It should be a fascinating Chinese Grand Prix.

Qualifying positions at the Chinese Grand Prix:

1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m53.860s
2.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m54.455s
3.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m54.960s
4.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m55.143s
5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m55.637s
6.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m56.147s
7.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m56.282s
8.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m56.366s
9.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m56.773s
10.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m57.079s
11.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m56.860s
12.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m56.963s
13.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m57.289s
14.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m57.393s
15.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m57.675s
16.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m58.264s
17.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m58.988s
18.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault      1m59.260s
19.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m59.326s
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      2m00.646s
21.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      2m00.865s
22.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault

107 per cent time: 2m03.602s

Lewis Hamilton won the intra-team battle against Nico Rosberg to score his second victory of the season for Mercedes.

The 900th Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit proved to be a thrilling race from start-to-finish with fantastic wheel-to-wheel battle.

A late-race Safety Car, deployed after Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus tipping Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber into a roll at Turn 1, turned the 57-lap race into a ten lap sprint under floodlights in the desert.

Both drivers had gone wheel-to-wheel in the early stages, as Hamilton edging out polesitter Rosberg at the start and the German attempted to come back at his British team-mate, so they were warned to keep it clean by Mercedes boss Paddy Lowe.

They just about managed it as they scrapped aggressively for the overfall victory.

Rosberg had the advantage of softer tyres for the showdown and had several stabs at passing Hamilton using DRS into the Michael Schumacher corner.

But he could not make either stick, and Hamilton prevailed on his medium tyres after some epic side-by-side racing through the esses.

Behind, Force India recorded its first podium since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix as Sergio Perez just held off the quicker Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.

The Red Bulls also had the advantage on running the soft tyres for the final sprint and Ricciardo got the better of his world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India to finish in fourth place.

Vettel, who complained of a lack of power from his Renault engine, could not find his own way past Hulkenberg so had to spend the final two laps fending off Williams pair Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas for sixth.

Williams gambled on a three-stop strategy where most of the other frontrunners went for two, and the Safety Car undid its hopes of a better result.

The Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top ten, while Jenson Button joined his McLaren team-mate Kevin Magnussen with a non-finish. This was a disappointing result for the Jenson’s 250th Grand Prix appearance.

So a brilliant race in the desert. Full of action and drama throughout the field, and yet the Silver Arrows comes out on top once again with three victories out of three races.

Bahrain Grand Prix race results after 57 laps:

1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                  1h38m42.743
2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                  +1.085s
3. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes      +24.067s
4. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault          +24.489s
5. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes      +28.654s
6. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault          +29.879s
7. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes         +31.265s
8. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes         +31.876s
9. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                   +32.595s
10. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                   +33.462s
11. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault        +41.342s
12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault             +43.143s
13. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari          +59.909s
14. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault             +1m02.803s
15. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault          +1m27.900s
16. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari          +1 lap
17. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes          +2 laps

Retirements

Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes        40 laps
Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          39 laps
Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault        33 laps
Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault      18 laps
Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari          17 laps

Drivers’ standings:

1. Nico Rosberg       61
2. Lewis Hamilton     50
3. Nico Hulkenberg    28
4. Fernando Alonso    26
5. Jenson Button      23
6. Sebastian Vettel   23
7. Kevin Magnussen    20
8. Valtteri Bottas    18
9. Sergio Perez       16
10. Daniel Ricciardo   12
11. Felipe Massa       12
12. Kimi Raikkonen     7
13. Jean-Eric Vergne   4
14. Daniil Kvyat       3

Constructors’ standings:

1. Mercedes               111
2. Force India-Mercedes   44
3. McLaren-Mercedes       43
4. Red Bull-Renault       35
5. Ferrari                33
6. Williams-Mercedes      30
7. Toro Rosso-Renault     7

Next race: Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai. April 18-20.

Nico Rosberg achieved his fifth career pole position in Formula 1 by edging out Lewis Hamilton at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Throughout the weekend, Lewis Hamilton had set the pace in every session leading into qualifying. In fact, the Mercedes driver was the favourite for pole position, but after being outpaced by Rosberg on their first runs in Q3, he tried to make amends but ran wide on his final run.

Rosberg also aborted his final run too after been informed  Hamilton made a mistake, earning the top spot and another on-two for the Silver Arrows.

Daniel Ricciardo was one of the few drivers to improve on his second run in Q3, jumping to third. However, the Red Bull driver will serve a ten-place grid penalty after an unsafe release in last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

This relegated Valtteri Bottas to third, the Finn proving that the Williams team’s pace during pre-season testing here was no fluke with a place on the second row.

Force India driver Sergio Perez has been strong all weekend and was next quickest, only a tenth slower than Bottas.

He shaded Kimi Raikkonen, who had only one run in Q3 because The Iceman had only one set of fresh Pirellis remaining, by 22 thousandths of a second.

The McLaren duo of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen ended up seventh and eighth, split by the Williams of Felipe Massa, with both making late improvements as they also had only one set of new softs for the session.

As for Fernando Alonso, the Ferrari driver was the slowest in Q3 after a disappointing final lap, ending up six tenths adrift from team-mate Raikkonen.

And yet the biggest shock was when the previous Bahrain Grand Prix winner was knocked out in Q2. The defending world champion Sebastian Vettel was unable to make into the top ten shoot out for the second time in three races.

Red Bull Racing opted to complete just one run in Q2 and Vettel complained about downshift problems after missing the cut by six-hundredths of a second.

Nico Hulkenberg, who has struggled to match Force India team-mate Perez all weekend, also failed to hook up a good enough lap to make Q3 after running wide onto the kerb at Turn 11, ending up P12 ahead of the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez shaded Lotus driver Romain Grosjean for P15 place by just 17 thousandths of a second.

This was another disappointing qualifying session for Lotus. With Pastor Maldonado dropping out in Q1 with P17, beaten by his team-mate by nine thousandths of a second.

Grosjean is under investigation from the race stewards after impeding Adrian Sutil’s Sauber during qualifying.

Sutil was also knocked out in Q1, while Caterham continued its recent upward curve in terms of performance, with Kamui Kobayashi P19, lapping within a quarter of a second, and Marcus Ericsson in P21.

Jules Bianchi split the two Caterhams, with Max Chilton taking his usual grid spot, in last place.

Qualifying positions, Bahrain Grand Prix:

1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m33.185s
2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m33.464s
3. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes    1m34.247s
4. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes 1m34.346s
5. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari              1m34.368s
6. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m34.387s
7. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes    1m34.511s
8. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes     1m34.712s
9. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m34.992s
10. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m34.985s
11. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m35.116s
12. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault   1m35.145s
13. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault     1m34.051s*
14. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault   1m35.286s
15. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m35.891s
16. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m35.908s
17. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault        1m36.663s
18. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari       1m36.840s
19. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault     1m37.085s
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari     1m37.310s
21. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault     1m37.875s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari     1m37.913s

*Ten-place grid penalty for unsafe release in the pits

Lewis Hamilton kicked off his new Formula 1 season in style by dominating the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver made up for his disappointing early retirement from the season-opener in Australia by beating his team-mate Nico Rosberg to victory by 17 seconds at Sepang.

Albert Park winner Rosberg maintained his position as championship leader by finishing second.

He jumped reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel off the line and successfully repelled both Red Bulls after a massive tank-slapper coming through Turn 3 on the first lap.

He reported struggling with his rear tyres in the early stages and could not keep pace with Hamilton, who stretched out an early and decisive lead before racing on to record the 23rd Grand Prix win of his career.

Rosberg finished a comfortable 7.2 seconds clear of third-placed Vettel, who put his first championship points on the board after his own early retirement in Australia.

The Red Bulls were side-by-side through the opening sequence of turns, as Vettel’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo went round the outside at Turn 2.

Rosberg’s massive twitch coming though the long sweeping right-hander at Turn 3 allowed the reigning world champion to come back at his team-mate briefly, but Ricciardo held firm, only to be passed on lap four when Vettel slid up the inside at Turn 1 unchallenged.

Ricciardo had to get his elbows out again after the first round of pitstops, successfully brushing off the efforts from Fernando Alonso to pass as he rejoined. The Red Bull winning the battle over the Ferrari after more side-by-side action through Turns 1, 2 and 3.

But this proved a moot point ultimately, as Ricciardo suffered a botched late pit-stop that required mechanics to push his car back to the Red Bull pit to refit the front-left wheel correctly.

Daniel rejoined the race, but then suffered a front wing failure on the start-finish straight, having broken it by running wide out of Turn 14 coming onto the back straight. He retired with a few laps to the flag.

And to rub more salt to his injuries, the race stewards have applied a ten-place grid penalty to Ricciardo in the next race at Bahrain, for unsafe release in the pit-stop. Terrible back luck for the Red Bull driver.

Ricciardo’s misfortune promoted a personal duel between Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg, in which the Spaniard again prevailed to take fourth position.

Hulkenberg’s Force India used an unconventional two-stop strategy to get ahead of the Ferrari, but ultimately Alonso used the advantage of fresher Pirelli to get ahead in the final moments of the race.

Jenson Button completed a stealthy climb from tenth on the grid to complete the top six, ahead of the duelling Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. The Brazilian finished in front of the Finn after ignoring orders from his team to let him through.

Button’s McLaren team-mate Kevin Magnussen recovered from an early five-second stop-go penalty for puncturing the right-rear tyre on Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari to finish ninth, while Formula 1’s youngest ever points scorer Daniil Kvyat scored again by rounding out the top ten for Toro Rosso.

Raikkonen recovered to a pointless P12, behind Romain Grosjean’s much-improved Lotus.

So a brilliant result for Mercedes. The first one-two for the manufacturer since the Italian Grand Prix back in 1955. Nico Rosberg still leads the drivers’ championship with the Brackley-based team now in first position in the constructors’ standings.

Malaysian Grand Prix race results, 56 laps:

1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes               1h40m25.974s
2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                +17.313s
3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        +24.534s
4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 +35.992s
5. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes    +47.199s
6. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        +1m23.691s
7. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes       +1m25.076s
8. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes       +1m25.537s
9. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes        +1 lap
10. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault     +1 lap
11. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          +1 lap
12. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                +1 lap
13. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault       +1 lap
14. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault       +2 laps
15. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari       +2 laps

Retirements:

Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault        49 laps
Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          35 laps
Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari          32 laps
Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault      18 laps
Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari        8 laps
Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault           7 laps
Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes    0 laps (Non-start)

Drivers’ championship:

1. Nico Rosberg       43
2. Lewis Hamilton     25
3. Fernando Alonso    24
4. Jenson Button      23
5. Kevin Magnussen    20
6. Nico Hulkenberg    18
7. Sebastian Vettel   15
8. Valtteri Bottas    14
9. Kimi Raikkonen     6
10. Felipe Massa       6
11. Jean-Eric Vergne   4
12. Daniil Kvyat       3
13. Sergio Perez       1

Constructors’ championship:

1. Mercedes                 68
2. McLaren-Mercedes         43
3. Ferrari                  30
4. Williams-Mercedes        20
5. Force India-Mercedes     19
6. Red Bull-Renault         15
7. Toro Rosso-Renault       7
8. Sauber-Ferrari           0
9. Lotus-Renault            0
10. Caterham-Renault         0
11. Marussia-Ferrari         0

Next race: Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain International Circuit. April 4-6.

Lewis Hamilton achieved his second successive pole position in the new era of Formula 1 at Sepang, following a rain-delayed qualifying session.

The heavy rain caused a 50-minute delay to the action. Once Q1 was underway, the call on using the right wet weather tyres was crucial in getting track position and speed.

Hamilton’s first flying lap of one minute, 59.431 seconds was respectable enough to secure pole position.

By securing pole, Lewis Hamilton has now equalled Jim Clark’s record of 33 pole positions in Formula 1. An impressive achievement.

His margin over the four-time world champion was small though, just 55 thousandths of a second faster than Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

Nico Rosberg showed disappointing pace on his first flying lap, ending up only fourth fastest, but with track conditions a little worse in the closing stages, he did enough to improve to third.

Fernando Alonso was the driver he bumped down to fourth, although the Spaniard was fortunate to make Q3 after surviving a collision with Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat at Turn 9 during Q2.

The Spaniard suffered front-left suspension damage in the clash, which happened when he was struggling back to the pits on the intermediate tyre while most were on full wets.

The Russian had closed rapidly on Alonso and dived to the inside of the slow left-hander, but Alonso turned in and Kvyat slid into him.

That race incident will be investigated by stewards after the session.

Daniel Ricciardo was fifth fastest ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who was the only driver other than Hamilton to head the times during Q3, with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg seventh.

Behind him was Kevin Magnussen, who started Q3 on intermediates but pitted to change to wets, salvaging eighth position while team-mate Jenson Button stuck with the inferior tyre and ended up slowest in tenth.

Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne was the other driver to reach the top ten shootout, ending up ninth.

Williams pairing Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were the big-name casualties during Q2.

With everyone setting their times using wet Pirellis during the middle segment of the session, the Williams FW36 again struggled for traction in the low-grip conditions. And the pair ended up P13 and P14 respectively.

Vergne prevailed in a tense battle for the final Q3 slot, bumping his Toro Rosso team-mate Kvyat from the position in the final seconds of the session.

Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez ended up P12 ahead of the Williams duo, with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean suffering a late spin and unable to do better than P16 after making Q2 for the first time this year.

Pastor Maldonado was unable to join his Lotus team-mate in the second phase of qualifying, ending up the fastest of those to miss the Q2 cut 0.385 seconds slower than Vergne.

After the delayed start, every team apart from McLaren opted to send their drivers out on intermediate rubber in wet conditions, with the majority of the order dictated by pace during the first half of the session.

Sauber’s Adrian Sutil, Marussia pairing Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton and the Caterhams of Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson were the others to fall in Q1.

The session was brought to a premature close when Ericsson lost it on a wet kerb at the exit of Turn 3 after what the Swede described as a “silly mistake” and spun into the barrier, rebounding and coming to rest on the track.

Qualifying positions, Malaysian Grand Prix:

1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m59.431s
2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m59.486s
3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              2m00.050s
4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               2m00.175s
5. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault      2m00.541s
6. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari               2m01.218s
7. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  2m01.712s
8. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes      2m02.213s
9. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault    2m03.078s
10. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      2m04.053s
11. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault    2m02.351s
12. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        2m02.369s
13. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes     2m02.460s
14. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes  2m02.511s
15. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         2m02.885s
16. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault         2m02.074s
17. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari        2m02.131s
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes     2m02.756s*
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari      2m02.702s
20. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault      2m03.595s
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari      2m04.388s
22. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault      2m04.407s

107 per cent time: 2m05.385s

*Five-place grid penalty for impending Kimi Raikkonen

Nico Rosberg kicked off the new era of Formula 1 with victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes team delivered on their pre-season promise by dominating the race in Albert Park, Melbourne.

Rosberg took the lead at the start and was never headed on his way to his fourth career victory, which he took by a comfortable twenty-four seconds.

The German made a superb start from third on the grid, passing Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take the number one spot.

Rosberg made the most of the W05’s speed advantage to streak away from the field at will. Even with the safety car called out following Valtteri Bottas’ brush against the wall and shedding the right-rear tyre, didn’t affected the Mercedes driver’s race.

Rosberg’s team-mate Hamilton slipped back to fourth on the first lap as he struggled with an engine problem in his Mercedes.

After initial confusion as to whether he should carry on, the 2008 world champion retired his W05 into the pits as early as the third lap of 57.

Australian home hero Ricciardo completed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Red Bull Racing by narrowly beating McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen to finish second.

The world champion team looked to be in desperate trouble in pre-season testing, but made enormous steps with its Renault-engined car in Australia, allowing Ricciardo to score an unlikely maiden podium in his first race for the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

And yet hours after the Australian Grand Prix, the race stewards discovered that his Red Bull was found to have “exceeded consistently” the limit on peak fuel consumption of 100kg per hour, a new rule introduced for the 2014 season.

The end result means a disqualification for Daniel Ricciardo. Such a big shame after a brilliant drive in his home Grand Prix.

As for Sebastian Vettel, the defending world champion had a really short race affected by reliability problem in his RB10.

He started out of sequence on the medium tyre after a disappointing result in qualifying consigned him to a row six start.

His struggles with a lack of power from his Renault engine continued into the race and he joined Hamilton in retirement after only five laps.

McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen finished on the podium on his Formula 1 debut, after surviving a wild oversteer moment shortly after the start.

The reigning Formula Renault 3.5 champion beat team-mate Jenson Button to second spot by 3.2 seconds.

The 2009 world champion started down on row five after his final flying lap in Q2 was spoiled by yellow flags, but he used smart strategy to jump from the fringes of the top ten to sixth as the safety car came out, then overhaul Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India at the second round of stops.

Williams driver Bottas overcame Jean-Eric Vergne’s wildly oversteering Toro Rosso and Hulkenberg in the closing stages to finish sixth, but will rue what might have been after a messy race.

The Finn starred in the early stages as he worked the Williams through to the top six from P15 on the grid, but the Finn touched the wall coming out of Turn 10 on lap 11 and broke his right-rear wheel.

He avoided suspension damage and pitted for a replacement, before working his way back through the field. A decent points finish was at least some reward for Williams after Felipe Massa was wiped out by Kamui Kobayashi’s locked-up Caterham at the first corner on the first lap.

Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari beat the Toro Rossos of Vergne and Formula 1 rookie Daniil Kvyat as these three completed the top ten.

At 19 years and 322 days, Kvyat becomes the youngest driver ever to score a championship point.

Perez’s Force India, both Saubers, and both Marussias also made the flag as 15 cars in total made the finish.

Jules Bianchi finished eight laps down and unclassified after failing to make it off the grid, causing an aborted start and forcing him to start from the pitlane behind the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

Grosjean made it to lap 45 before retiring his troublesome twin-tusk E22, while team-mate Pastor Maldonado and Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson also stopped out on-track shortly after half-distance.

So a fascinating race featuring the new rules for this season. Mercedes proved their impressive pre-season testing form with victory but reliability remains an issue.

Australian Grand Prix, race results after 57 laps:

1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1h32m58.710s
2.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes          +26.777s
3.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes          +30.027s
4.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                   +35.284s
5.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes         +47.639s
6.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes      +50.718s
7.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                   +57.675s
8.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault      +1m00.441s
9.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault      +1m03.585s
10.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes    +1m25.916s
11.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
12.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
13.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari           +2 laps
14.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari           +8 laps*

DSQ  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault          +24.525s**

*Not classified
**Disqualified over fuel flow

Retirements:

Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault              43 laps
Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault              29 laps
Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault           27 laps
Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault            3 laps
Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                    2 laps
Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault            0 laps
Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes           0 laps

Drivers’ championship:

1.  Nico Rosberg      25
2.  Kevin Magnussen   18
3.  Jenson Button     15
4.  Fernando Alonso   12
5.  Valtteri Bottas   10
6.  Nico Hulkenberg   8
7.  Kimi Raikkonen    6
8.  Jean-Eric Vergne  4
9.  Daniil Kvyat      2
10. Sergio Perez 1

Constructors’ championship:

1.  McLaren/Mercedes      33
2.  Mercedes              25
3.  Ferrari               18
4.  Williams/Mercedes     10
5.  Force India/Mercedes  9
6.  Toro Rosso/Renault    6

Next race: Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang. March 28-30.

The new 2014-spec Formula 1 cars may lack the noise when compared to the V8 era, but the Melbourne crowd had a moment to cheer when their home driver was going to get his maiden pole position.

And yet, race favourite Lewis Hamilton snatched that opportunity from Daniel Ricciardo in the final moments of an exciting Q3 session.

The Mercedes driver will start on pole position for the 32nd time and he now equals Nigel Mansell’s qualifying achievement in the sport.

As for the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, the Red Bull driver failed to make into Q3 and will start the Australian Grand Prix down in unlucky P13.

The Mercedes driver, on wet tyres, knocked Vettel’s Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who was on intermediate rubber, off top spot by three tenths of a second in the final seconds of a rain-hit session.

Nico Rosberg, who had briefly taken provisional pole before Hamilton and Ricciardo improved late on, was third ahead of McLaren’s rookie Kevin Magnussen.

Both drivers, as well as fifth-placed Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, set their times on wet rubber with opinion split among the ten runners as to which tyre compound was preferable.

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne showed his wet weather prowess with a superb sixth position ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, both setting their times on intermediates.

Behind the pair was Formula 1 rookie Daniil Kvyat, who impressed despite an off in Q3 on the run between Turns 10 and 11.

He took eighth place on wet rubber, ahead of Williams drivers Felipe Massa (intermediates) and Valtteri Bottas (wets), although the latter must serve a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change before qualifying.

Several of the drivers who failed to advance from Q2 to Q3 were unable to improve thanks to yellow flags caused by Kimi Raikkonen’s late crash as rain returned in intermediate conditions.

The Ferrari driver lost the rear at the exit of Turn 3 and spun into the wall, with Vettel among those who were attempting to jump into the top ten at the time.

With both failing to make the cut in P12 and P13, Jenson Button made it three world champions to fail to make the top ten shootout in P11.

Sauber’s Adrian Sutil, Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi and Force India driver Sergio Perez, who ran through the gravel at Turn 2 on his final flying lap, also fell in Q2.

Marussia driver Max Chilton was the fastest of the drivers to be knocked out in Q1, which was effectively ended at a point when most had managed only one run thanks to rain at the halfway mark.

Chilton was just nineteen thousandths of a second slower than Kobayashi, who did make the cut but was unable to do better than P15 in the second stage of qualifying.

Chilton’s eam-mate Jules Bianchi, Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez (who will be hit with a five-place penalty for a gearbox change) and Caterham rookie Marcus Ericsson were also eliminated in Q1.

Joining them were the Lotus E22s of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, the latter not able to attempt a lap until the damp conditions late on and having two off-track excursions before aborting his run.

This was a shocking qualifying session for Lotus and starting on the back row is not ideal.

As for the stars of qualifying – Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen – this was a brilliant achievement. Out-qualified their highly impressive team-mates first time.

Qualifying positions for the Australian Grand Prix:

1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m44.231s
2.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m44.548s
3.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m44.595s
4.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m45.745s
5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m45.819s
6.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m45.864s
7.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m46.030s
8.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m47.360s
9.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m48.079s
10.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m44.437s
11.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m44.494s
12.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m44.668s
13.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m45.655s
14.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault      1m45.867s
15.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m48.147s*
16.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m47.293s
17.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.293s
18.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.794s
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      1m35.157s
21.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m36.993s
22.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault         No time
22.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m35.117s*

*Five-place penalty for gearbox change

107 per cent: 1m37.129s

Williams have confirmed a new sponsorship deal with Italian drinks company Martini by unveiling the FW36’s striped colour scheme to the world’s press.

The Martini Racing colours was last seen on the Brabham cars back in 1975 and it also marks Martini’s largest Formula 1 programme since it sponsored Lotus in 1979.

Team founder Sir Frank Williams said: “We are thrilled to welcome Martini to the Williams family and officially launch Williams Martini Racing.

“Williams and Martini share a rich history in the world of motorsport, and the values of our two brands and our shared passion for racing make this partnership a natural fit.

“It will be great to see the distinctive stripes of Martini Racing return to Formula 1 once again in unison with Williams.”

Andy Gibson, president of Martini parent company Bacardi Global Brands, added: “Williams Martini Racing provides a powerful, integrated marketing platform and delivers dynamic opportunities that will strengthen the Martini brand.”

Williams ended pre-season testing with the fastest time in the Bahrain tests, and seems poised for a resurgence in the upcoming Formula 1 season after a disappointing 2013 campaign.

“2014 is going to be a fascinating season, with regulation changes of this scale often shaking up the grid and creating opportunities for teams to make a good step forward,” said Williams.

“Over the winter we have proved our ambition by making a number of positive changes; we welcome a new driver pairing, new senior technical personnel, and a number of new commercial partners for 2014.

“In Martini we have a brand that shares a passion for motor racing and winning championships. This partnership is a milestone in our history and we look forward to working closely with Martini over the coming years.”

The Martini colours on the Williams FW36 certainly looks beautiful and after an encouraging test at Bahrain, the team could even challenge the might of Mercedes for race victory.

Even the drivers overalls for both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa look great. Let’s hope Martini Racing will bring much success to Williams this season.

After releasing two render images of the E22 earlier this year, Lotus have publicly unveiled its 2014 challenger as the second pre-season test began at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The Enstone team’s design is the last of the new generation of Formula 1 cars to breaking cover, following the decision to skip the first pre-season test in Jerez, Spain.

Romain Grosjean will shakedown the E22 on day one, though his team-mate Pastor Maldonado has already completed 100km of running in a demonstration run at Jerez earlier this month.

The E22 features an unusual ‘twin-tusk’ nose design that caused problems for the team in passing the mandatory front crash-tests as outlined by the FIA.

Despite that, the sport’s governing body is satisfied with the Enstone team’s interpretation of the regulations with the twin-tusk nose which features on their new E22.

Technical director Nick Chester said there were no legality concerns about the team’s unique approach to the 2014 rules.

“The nose certainly is quite interesting,” he said after the car ran in public for the first time in Bahrain. “We think it’s a nice solution and it’s quite innovative.”

“Naturally, as with any interpretation of new regulations, we’ve talked with the FIA to ensure that they are happy with the design. It’s nice to have something a little bit different and we’re happy with our path having seen what everyone else is doing with their cars in this area.”

Chester described the whole car as “an elegant solution for the 2014 regulations”. He said the radical change in regulations had led to the creation of a “completely new” car.

“There’s very little which could be carried across from previous cars. That said, in certain areas we’ve been able to follow the same philosophies such as in our approach to aerodynamics and suspension, where lessons learnt with previous cars have been highly relevant.”

Chester took over from James Allison as technical director last year. Lotus were the last team to put their 2014 car on-track but he remains confident about their new racer.

“Already Mercedes and Red Bull have interesting aspects to their cars, but looking at the E22 after seeing everyone else’s interpretations, we’re still very pleased with the direction we’ve taken and the hard work of everyone at Enstone really has created an elegant car.”

Former Caterham driver Charles Pic appeared alongside Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado at a presentation of the E22 in Bahrain, with the team confirming Pic as this year’s third (test) driver.