Ricciardo powers through to the GP front row

DANIEL Ricciardo has powered through a sensational qualifying campaign for the Australian Grand Prix.

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo during the third practice session today.

AMID a backdrop of thunder and lightning in an electrifying twilight session in Melbourne, Australian Daniel Ricciardo has powered through a sensational qualifying campaign for the Australian Grand Prix, earning himself a place on the front row for tomorrow’s season-opening Formula One race at Albert Park.

Australia’s Red Bull Racing driver briefly held pole position until Mercedes-Benz’s Lewis Hamilton edged him out with a scorching final lap today.

The latter stages of qualifying were held in wet, windy and near-dark conditions as Ricciardo’s teammate Sebastian Vettel, the four-time defending world champion, slumped to qualify in 13th, placing him in the middle of the pack for tomorrow’s 58-lap race.

Hamilton posted a quickest qualifying lap of 1minutes 44.231 seconds to nudge Ricciardo, in his first event for the powerhouse Red Bull Racing team, who recorded 1:44.548sec to send a huge crowd into frenzied celebrations at Albert Park.

Hamilton’s stablemate Nico Rosberg was third, followed by Kevin Magnussen (McLaren) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) as teams grappled with drastic technical rule changes at the beginning of the turbo era in Formula One.

“Pretty happy to be here,” Ricciardo said.

“Happy for the team. It was exciting with the weather added to the mix. It’s the first time we’ve all driven these cars to the limit in these conditions.

“It was tricky, but it was fun. Always nice to be up there. We’ll have to see inside the garage what went wrong with Seb. But I’m happy for the team to have a front-row start.”

Mercedes-Benz had dominated pre-season testing and Hamilton was quietly confident he could convert pole position to the top of the podium.

“Just building on a good foundation and hoping to continue to do so,” he said.

“It’s not been an easy weekend. So much harder for everyone with the qualifying conditions. To have both me and Nico sitting here is a great achievement for the team.”

Vettel was appreciably frustrated. “For some reason, we’ve lost drivability overnight,” he said. “We have to work out why.”

Earlier Rosberg set the fastest time in practice around Melbourne's Albert Park street circuit, with Jenson Button's McLaren 1.4 seconds behind in second and Alonso third in his Ferrari.

Rosberg's Mercedes teammate Hamilton was fourth quickest and Ricciardo was fifth best in his Red Bull.

The only concern for Mercedes was a possible littering fine after Rosberg found a stray component in his hands as he drove — later shown to be a “thermal elbow protector” — tossing it from his car. Rosberg's 1:29.375 lap was the fastest in practice, setting up a keen challenge between the two Mercedes drivers for pole position in the afternoon.

The biggest surprise from today’s final practice session was the absence of world champion Vettel from the top of the timesheets, citing acceleration problems through team radio to end 12th.

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Intermittent showers and sharper wind added to the challenge facing the drivers as they continue to adapt to their new cars. Romain Grosjean fought an ongoing battle with his Sauber car, forced back into the pits three times with various problems.

McLaren drivers Magnussen and Button provided an early highlight by taking off-road trips on the same turn within one minute of each other.

The same corner caused concern for Hamilton, who twice took excursions at turn nine on hot laps, preventing him climb back to the top of the charts.

Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez struggled around his first flying lap of the circuit, citing gearbox issues and did not record a time. Likely cellar-dwellers Caterham's weekend improved as both drivers were able to chart lap times for the first time, though found themselves well off the pace.

with AAP