Jack Leslie F1: 2014 Australian Grand Prix in pictures

One race down, 18 to go. The 2014 F1 season officially kicked off last weekend in fine style in Melbourne, Australia.

Set in stunning parkland and with the city skyline in the distance, the Albert Park Circuit always produces stunning photographs. Here is the race weekend in pictures.

Friday

Fernando Alonso set the pace in first practice for the Australian GP.

After a terrible first practice, Lewis Hamilton recovered to top the timesheets in FP2.

Daniel Ricciardo got in plenty of running on Friday, surprising many with the RB10's reliability.

Sebastian Vettel had a productive Friday in comparison to the team's running in winter testing. Red Bull's latest car was closer to the pace than expected.

Caterham suffered a disastrous Friday. After promising reliability in Bahrain testing, the team managed just three laps overall (two for Marcus Ericsson, one for Kamui Kobayashi).

McLaren's weekend got off to a good start with strong pace and reliability at the Albert Park Circuit.

Williams looked good in race trim with both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa feeling confident after Friday running.

Reliability problems continued for Lotus on Friday with very little running for both Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean.

Saturday

Qualifying conditions on Saturday were tricky with rain arriving for the end of Q1. The second session saw Kimi Raikkonen crash in the closing stages. He failed to make it through to Q3.

Sebastian Vettel was another driver who failed to make it through to Q3 after failing to improve on his final lap time.

Daniel Ricciardo surprised in wet conditions to take second on the grid for his home race.

Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole position with Nico Rosberg setting the third fastest time after a mistake meant he crossed the line after the chequered flag and couldn't do another lap.

Both Toro Rosso cars made it through to Q3 with rookie Daniil Kvyat securing eighth on the grid.

Kamui Kobayashi made up for Caterham's Friday problems by making it through to Q2.

Kevin Magnussen impressed immensely on Saturday to set the fourth fastest time in the top 10 shoot-out.

The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas qualified ninth and 10th. However, the latter had a five-place gearbox change penalty.

Sunday

The drivers gathered prior to the race for the annual class photo.

The race start was dramatic and took two attempts to complete. Here, you can see Lewis Hamilton and Ricciardo dropping back from first and second, as well as Kevin Magnussen catching a wild slide.

A misfiring cylinder meant Lewis Hamilton was down on power from the very start. He eventually retired at the end of lap three.

A brake problem for Kamui Kobayashi caused him to crash into Felipe Massa at turn one. Worryingly, the Caterham CT05 went under the Williams FW36 due to the new lower nose tip.

Like Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel was also low on power from the very beginning of the race and he eventually retired on lap four.

Kimi Raikkonen battled with countryman Valtteri Bottas until he made an error, letting the Williams driver through. He eventually went on to finish eighth before being promoted by Daniel Ricciardo's exclusion.

Daniil Kvyat broke a new record on Sunday by becoming the youngest ever driver to score an F1 point. He finished 10th but rose to ninth due to Ricciardo's exclusion.

Nico Rosberg crossed the line to win the Australian Grand Prix after dominating the race. Here is is celebrating with his team.

Kevin Magnussen crossed the line in third place and took a podium on his debut. What he didn't know at the time of this photo, though, was that he would eventually be promoted to second.

Daniel Ricciardo secured his first F1 podium in Australia, on home turf. However, it was taken away from him five hours later after his car was found to have exceeded the maximum fuel flow limit.

Catch up on the on-track action with my Australian Grand Prix Weekend Review. For driver reaction, go here.

17 March 2014

2014 Australian Grand Prix in pictures

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