Lewis Hamilton takes pole position for the Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday by almost 0.6s from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

The defending world champion lapped the 3.2-mile Albert Park track in a time of 1:26.327 to claim his fourth Melbourne pole and the 39th of his career. 

It also means he starts the new season on the front foot against Rosberg, who lost out in their title battle last year but held the upper hand in qualifying. 

Rosberg had been fastest in both of Friday's practice sessions but Hamilton started imposing himself with the fastest time in P3 earlier on Saturday.

That trend continued into qualifying, although Rosberg's chances finally appeared scuppered after a mistake on his first flying lap in Q3, with the German running off the track exiting Turn 15.

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At that stage Hamilton was 1.3s faster than Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and although Rosberg's second attempt was an improvement, it was still 0.5s down on Hamilton's first.

With Mercedes therefore securing their anticipated front-row lockout, the Briton then shaved another tenth off his time for good measure.

“It has been a great start to the weekend," said Hamilton. "It doesn’t feel like that long since the last race we had and it was a big rush from all the guys back at the factory to come here and have this performance. So I feel incredibly blessed to have this car.

“Last year was the best car I had ever driven and already this year it is the best car I have ever driven. So it is quite unbelievable.”

"I'm not worried about pace at all to be honest," said Rosberg. "Maybe I can even turn it around tomorrow."

Felipe Massa secured third on the grid, 1.4 seconds off Hamilton's pace but allowing Williams to pip the Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen which had hitherto presented Mercedes' closest challenge this weekend.

"The race we can do a good job, definitely," said Massa. "The fight is really tough with Ferrari. We are really at a similar pace and it won't be an easy race. But we are there in the fight and really looking forward to starting the season well with both cars."

It could have been even better for Williams but Valtteri Bottas - who reported back trouble during qualifying and is a doubt for Sunday's race - ran wide exiting the final corner on his final lap.

The Finn still lines up sixth on the grid ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who has been struggling with the driveability of his Red Bull so far this weekend and appeared on the verge of going out in Q2.

Instead, the Australian, who also missed P2 after an engine failure, dragged a good enough lap from his RB11 but Daniil Kvyat's sister car failed to progress after an even more difficult session.

The Russian lost time in P3 after his car's exhaust caught fire, damaging a wiring loom. Repairs ate into his Q1 time and although Kvyat got through with his solitary attempt, he failed to make the top ten.

He therefore lines up 13th on the grid, one place behind Max Verstappen, the 17-year-old debutant who has shown top-ten pace this weekend but missed out after a mistake at Turn 5.

There were no such errors from Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz, however, with the Spaniard lining up eighth on the grid ahead of his own F1 debut. Lotus pair Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado completed the top ten. 

But any hopes McLaren's new partnership with Honda might make strides after a difficult pre-season winter testing period were comprehensively dashed.

With Manor again playing no part, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen will line up on the back row of the grid in 17th and 18th places some 6s off the ultimate pace.

“It’s been difficult but we’ve got some running done. We were never going to be super-competitive here – we were never going to be competitive – but still there’s a good feeling about the car," Button, a three-time race winner, said.

“I know we’re so far off but the basic car is there. We’ve just got to build on it now.”