Hamilton happy to be on the front row in Australia

Lewis Hamilton said he was "absolutely excited" at the prospect of starting from the front row at the Australian Grand Prix. The McLaren driver exceeded the expectations of the experts after the difficult winter and brought his car behind the poleman Sebastian Vettel, unattainable for anyone with his Red Bull.

“I'm absolutely happy to be here today,” said Hamilton. “The guys at the factory did an incredible job. We really got ourselves back on the right track. At the factory they made a fantastic and super effort, going back from the tests was a courageous and difficult decision. We decided to turn back and go in another direction. Something rare, never done before, but the result in the wind tunnel looked good. The guys worked harder than ever, the car is a big improvement, a solid base to improve on."

The Englishman admitted that Red Bull, who did not use KERS in qualifying, is still on another planet: “The gap would have been wider if they had used KERS, about 1.3 seconds, which is not normal. But we are on the front row, at least we can fight and collect points. Our car looks fantastic, so I can't imagine what theirs is like.”