Kimi Raikkonen got his Ferrari debut off to a flying start.
The Finn effortlessly stepped into Michael Schumacher's shoes to drive his Ferrari around the Albert Park circuit into pole position.
Fernando Alonso tried to seize the advantage; he fell short by 0.42 seconds to take second.
Third place went to BMW's Nick Heidfeld, who put in a strong final lap to drop McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton to fourth.
Robert Kubica made sure both BMW's got into the top five, and 2005 Australian Grand Prix winner, Giancarlo Fisichella, qualified in sixth place.
Qualifying 1
During morning practice it had rained but by the first session of Qualifying, the circuit was dry with an ambient temperature of 21C and a track temperature of 38C. There was a strong wind slanting across the circuit, which was a big factor making the ill-handling cars more difficult to drive.
Though Ferrari continued their dominancy in morning practice, Anthony Davidson posted a genuine P4 in his Super Aguri to much astonishment.
The speed of the Super Aguris made it ever more likely that Williams and Spyker will contest the eligibility of the “customer cars” run by Scuderia Toro Rosso and Super Aguri teams. But this will not interfere with the GP weekend or the running of the cars.
For the first time in five seasons, F1 started with the previous season's qualifying format and Christian Albers put in an atrocious first timed lap of 1:32.305, the wind causing the Spyker to over steer in some corners.
Once again the Super Aguri of Anthony Davidson lowered this to 1:29.211. Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher couldn't beat this but teammate Jarno Trulli did with a 1:28.709.
David Coulthard’s Red Bull took it down 1:28.579, and then new teammate Mark Webber sliced that down to 1:27.799.
Lewis Hamilton shone on his first run with three fastest sectors and a 1:26.674, this being so good that his teammate Fernando Alonso could only manage P2.
Kimi Raikkonen came out prior to Felipe Massa and took to the track taking the P1 slot with a 1:26.644, despite a mistake in Turn 15, and Felipe could only manage P4 behind the two McLarens.
With three minutes left the bottom of the timesheet looked like:
15. Davidson - Super Aguri
16. Liuzzi - STR
17. Sato - Super Aguri
18. Button - Honda
19. Sutil - Spyker
20. Albers - Spyker
21. Heidfeld (no time yet) - BMW
22. Kubica (no time yet) - BMW
But the two BMWs managed to jump into the top five, and another fast lap from Anthony Davidson pushed the two Toyotas into the bottom six and they had to run again. Takuma Sato then joined him in the safe zone, pushing both Hondas deeper into trouble.
Jenson Button’s valiant lap got him P11, pushing Alex Wurz in his Williams-Toyota into the drop zone. Alex improved, as did the two Toyotas, but this put David Coulthard's Red Bull in danger. Despite two good early sectors, a slow final sector meant Scot Speed couldn't escape in time.
Rubens Barrichello didn't have the pace of Button and dropped out. So the victims of Q1 were:
17. Barrichello
18. Speed
19. Coulthard
20. Liuzzi
21. Sutil
22. Albers
(Escaping the drop was the Williams-Toyota of Nico Rosberg in 16th. Jenson had 15th while the Super Aguris took 8th and 12th, with the Ferraris 1st and 5th. Barrichello and Coulthard being the major casualties.)
Qualifying 2
Nico Rosberg roared down the pit lane after two and a half minutes silence to begin the second session.
Toyota then let Jarno Trulli out of the pits with his rear jack still attached to the back of the car. It did, however, detaching itself near the pit lane exit with no harm done.
But Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota took 95 seconds to crawl round the first sector and then 75 seconds to complete the second. The FIA timing showed Ralf as a 'STOP' on the timing displays but he made it back to the pits and hadn’t stopped out on circuit.
Nico Rosberg took the first pole, once again Anthony Davidson cut this to 1:27.228, Webber reduced this further to 1:26.623, (showing DC he could give his Red Bull wings!!). Giancarlo Fisichella stepped up to do a 1:26.545 and then Robert Kubica took a chunk out of it for a 1:25.882.
Lewis Hamilton stepped up next and took P1 with 1:25.577 and once again Fernando could only reach P2 behind him.
With four minutes left the positions were:
9. Davidson
10. Kovalainen
11. Wurz
12. Button
13. Rosberg
14. Raikkonen (no time yet)
15. Massa (no time yet)
16. Ralf Schumacher
Kimi then came out to ease himself into P3, but all eyes were on Felipe Massa's car. Felipe had a slow first sector on his hot lap, only 29.2 compared to Kimi 's 28.5 - way off the pace. Then disaster struck, the car then slowed to a stop and Felipe got out. And so ended his chance to aspire to the dominancy he has shown all winter in testing.
Ralf Schumacher then jumped to P9, while Jenson Button improved his time, but his RA170 looked as though he was throwing around last year's Midland. Jenson did seem pleasantly surprised with his pace but was doomed P14 only.
Heikki Kovalainen couldn’t improve his time despite a last minute push, so the cars to be eliminated at the end of Q2 were:
11. Davidson
12. Rosberg
13. Kovalainen
14. Button
15. Wurz
16. Massa
With poor Felipe's demise, Takuma Sato had put his Super Aguri into the final ten for the first time in their history (remember it is the 06 Honda that Jenson Button put on the 06 Melbourne pole though!).
Mark Webber got to P7 making DC's effort even shabbier, though he did have the encouragement of his Aussie home support.
Felipe Massa was the major casualty of Q2, while Heikki Kovalainen's poor showing was unexpected too.
Towards the end of the session Fernando Alonso went out and bettered Lewis's time for P1, with Nick Heidfeld taking P2. Remarkably, Lewis and Kimi only used the minimum number of laps, (just 6!), to get to Q3.
Qualifying 3
Kimi maintained the Ferrari tradition and lead the field out for Q3. The top ten cruised around until Giancarlo Fisichella made a start on the pole-grabbing attempts. With the two McLarens, Kimi and the two BMWs all making two attempts at pole.
Giancarlo took provisional pole with a 1:27.925, which was briskly taken off him by Lewis Hamilton pulling out a 1:27.190. But at last Fernando was quicker on his first run and took P1 with a 1:27.050. However all three were put in place by Kimi's superb 1:26.072, looking like he'd claimed pole for Ferrari by a mile.
Felipe Massa saw the time go up on screen but he kept on staring glumly at the monitor showing indifference to Kimi’s achievement.
In the meantime, the BMWs were showing Dr Mario Theissen's views that they were a top flight team were founded, with Nick Heidfeld taking P2 and Robert Kubica P5.
Fisi's second run he was held up by a Toyota and FIA stewards are to be deemed consistent then we'll find one of them in P10 tomorrow as a result. There was no chance of Giancarlo improving his time, but Lewis Hamilton did and he grabbed back P2 only to lose it immediately to Alonso.
Kimi went out for a second lap despite being a long way ahead but failed to improve his time.
Nevertheless in the last few seconds Nick Heidfeld’s superb effort allowed him to snatch P3.
It was an enthralling end to the opening of the Australian GP and Qualifying saw clear winners and losers.
McLaren's Ron Dennis was walking round with a grin factor 10, pleased with the pace, glad Fernando had made the front row and showing his faith in Lewis Hamilton was being clearly proved. (The young Brit made one small mistake in the middle sector on his final lap, which made the difference between P3 and P4.)
BMW must be delighted to have taken 3rd and 5th, Toyota must be pleased to have got their cars into 8th and 9th, and Mark Webber could do great things from his P7 position at his home GP.
Nonetheless Ferrari’s confidence must be at an all time high that they can score the opening win of 2007.
So there are lots of firsts that are extremely likely in Sundays race; the Super Aguri team could well be looking at a first ever points finish, Lewis Hamilton at a possible first podium and Kimi Raikkonen at his first win since Japan 2005.
This is a track where the attrition rate is high and here reliability will be put to the ultimate test at the Melbourne circuit, so only those with a total package will shine and make the grade.
Teena B © enterF1.co.uk