Australian GP: Mixed qualifying for Williams Martini

With the Williams Martini team working hard to get the damaged car of Lance Stroll prior to qualifying. Lance had put his car into the barrier in the final practice session and with the repairs he would incur a five place grid penalty due to a gearbox change. Both Williams drivers had finished the final practice outside the top ten so making it into the final period may be difficult. With the start of the opening eighteen minute period Lance's car would still be worked on. The early quickest time was from Vettel with a 1m:25.733 running on the super soft tyre. Felipe was out on the track for Williams running on the ultra soft tyre.

Bottas was now quickest with a 1m:24.514 using the ultra soft tyre. Felipe would go fifth with a 1m:25.829 to be 1.3 seconds off Bottas' time. Hamilton was now second seeing Vettel third. With nine minutes remaining Lance was in his car getting ready to come out. Perez was fourth as Lance took to the track running on the ultra soft tyre. Ricciardo would go fifth seeing Felipe drop to sixth. Hamilton would go fastest with a 1m:24.191. Felipe had pitted while Lance was out on his first lap checking his car out. Hulkenberg was seventh behind Felipe while Lance was on his flying lap and would set a 1m:27.143 to be eighteenth and slowest of the times.

Raikkonen would move up to second, 1m:24.464, using the ultra soft tyre. With the end of the period Felipe would finish in seventh having moved up from eleventh on his last flying lap. His time was a 1m:25.099 while Lance would finish in nineteenth, 1m:27.143, but would start the race from last due to his penalty. The top ten would be Hamilton, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Perez, Felipe, Vettel, Ricciardo, and Grosjean.

The second fifteen minute period would see both Mercedes and Ferrari's come out all on ultra soft tyres. Bottas would set a 1m:23.215 and Hamilton a 1m:23.251. Raikkonen was third followed by Vettel. Felipe was on the track for Williams also on the ultra soft tyre. Felipe was now in seventh with a 1m:24.895 to be behind Verstappen. Ricciardo was fifth while Sainz and Kvyat were eighth and ninth. Felipe would pit after just a single flying lap. His next run a 1m:24.597 which was an improvement but would remain seventh. Felipe would make it into the top ten which was a great result. Bottas would remain fastest from Hamilton, Raikkonen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Felipe, Grosjean, Kvyat and Sainz. This would see everyone starting Sunday's race on the ultra soft tyre.

The final twelve minute period would see Bottas out first followed by Vettel. Hamilton would wait at the end of the pit lane. Both Red Bull cars would come out leaving four cars in the pits including Felipe. Bottas would set a 1m:22.798 but would be passed by Vettel and then Hamilton. But Hamilton would set a 1m:22.496 to go quickest by 0.300. Ricciardo's qualifying would end badly when he would go off and put his car into the barrier with the rear of the car going into the barrier as he spun. This would see the period red flagged with eight minutes remaining as Ricciardo's car was removed.

With the restart Grosjean would be first out and would go fifth with a 1m:24.074. Felipe would take to the track along with the rest of the top ten. Bottas would set a 1m:22.481 to go quickest but Hamilton would set a 1m:22.188 to move ahead. Vettel was able to move up to second seeing Bottas third followed by Raikkonen and Verstappen. Grosjean was sixth and Felipe would finish with a 1m:24.443 to be seventh. Sainz would be eight and Kvyat ninth. The result for Williams was a good effort from Felipe but he was 2.2 seconds off the pace of Hamilton.