F1 2012 Begins

The new season of F1 began this weekend and there is already a question asking whether it is to be the end of the Red Bull era. Their dominance in qualifying last season, hasn't been matched in the year's Australian qualifying session with McLaren managing a one-two. Lewis Hamilton has continually praised the new McLaren car and eased into Pole position with Jenson Button half a second behind. The performance of the day goes to debutant Romain Grosjean, who managed to place his Lotus into third place on his first F1 qualifying session. Mercedes have made waves during the practice sessions and Michael Schumacher will start fourth ahead of Mark Webber and defending champion Sebastian Vettel in the disappointing Red Bull, with Nico Rosberg seventh. Williams had a season they would rather forget last campaign but Pastor Maldonado has defied the odds and qualifies eighth ahead of the returning Nico Hulkenberg in a Force India. Daniel Ricciardo was the last to make it into Q3 and didn't make a run, therefore he will start tenth in the Toro Rosso.

The big news from Q2 saw the struggling Ferrari begin their season how many had feared. Fernando Alonso was sitting in fifth until he span off the track and was beached in the gravel. That made him a sitting duck and he will start 12th behind debutant Jean-Eric Vergne in the other Toro Rosso. Kamui Kobayashi sits 13th in the Sauber with Bruno Senna making an ominous return in a Williams car in 14th. Paul Di Resta was last year's surprise package but could only manage a 15th place with Felipe Massa already showing why Ferrari were thinking of letting him go in 16th. The last person to make it into Q2 was Sergio Perez in the other Sauber and he will begin the race in 17th place.

Q1 saw the usual six plus one from last season. Former World Champion, Kimi Raikonnen, had a dismal return to the sport. He was the surprise exit from Q1 in the Lotus and starts 18th. Heikki Kovalainen was the dominant driver last season for Lotus and begins this season in the newly named Caterham team ahead of new team-mate Vitaly Petrov. Virgin has been changed to Marussia and Timo Glock out-qualifies his new team-mate, debutant Charles Pic. It was deja vu for the Hispania team, they failed to make the 107% time last year and were subsequently disqualified from the race. This year, both Pedro De La Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan have failed to make the 107% time and will be a doubt for tomorrow's race.