Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"There remains doubt about whether Williams's Valtteri Bottas will race in the Australian Grand Prix after suffering a muscle tear in his lower back. The team say a decision should be made within the hour - but they have to tell race director Charlie Whiting before that, and the word is that Bottas will race.

"Because the injury is a tear, he cannot make it worse by racing, so there is nothing to lose by doing so, other than the pain he will have to endure. An injection should take the worst off that, though."

Image source, Getty Images

How Jenson Button would like to be this close to a seemingly unstoppable machine once again. Here he is in his Brawn GP days back in 2009 - the year he won the drivers' championship for the first and only time so far.

He won the Australian GP that year but, barring a minor miracle, he won't be repeating that feat this year, with McLaren-Honda's torrid start to 2015 having continued on Saturday...

Should he be unable to race, that means there will be 17 of the 20 cars lining up for the Australian Grand Prix, which gets under way at 05:00 GMT.

Manor had not taken part in any practice sessions in Melbourne and also failed to participate in qualifying, meaning they will not race.

Valtteri Bottas spent the night in hospital and Williams say a decision over whether he will compete in today's race will be made within the hour.

David Coulthard
BBC F1 co-commentator

"We saw Valtteri Bottas run wide in his two qualifying laps on to the kerb on the start-finish straight. It could be as simple as he has taken a whack and tweaked a nerve."

Image source, Williams

There may no surprises at the front of the grid but Felipe Massa secured an impressive qualifying result with third.

His team-mate Valtteri Bottas qualified sixth but is a doubt for the race after he suffered a back problem during qualifying.

Image source, Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso:, external It's time to smile... For the photo and first driver's parade of the season!

Allan McNish
BBC Radio 5 live analyst

"Mercedes were the dominant package last year clearly and over the winter period they have not rested upon their laurels, in fact the car difference to the rest looks to be even bigger than it was with a 1.4 second gap between polesitter Lewis Hamilton and the best of the rest which was Felipe Massa's Williams. Hamilton is definitely man of the moment."

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Lewis Hamilton was in as good a mood as one can imagine after qualifying on Saturday, barely able to wipe the smile off his face and hijacking Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff's news conference by asking joke questions. 'Have you considered upping the ante in your contract talks with Lewis?' Hamilton asked Wolff a couple of hours after his stupendous pole position.

"This pole - his 39th, Hamilton pointed out - was all about Hamilton's peerless natural ability. In the difficulty, windy conditions, which were new for qualifying, Hamilton adapted better than Rosberg and the result was a gap of more than half a second, and an early psychological hit in the title battle between the two Mercedes drivers. No wonder Hamilton was grinning."

Image source, Getty Images

It's here. The first race day of the 2015 Formula 1 season and there is an air of familiarity in Australia.

Mercedes topped every practice session in Melbourne before locking out the front row for today's race, with Lewis Hamilton securing pole and Nico Rosberg second on the grid.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is set to make an appearance in the paddock today, may have found a way to destroy the seemingly indestructible Terminator in the nineties classic Terminator 2 film, but even he won't be able to do much about Mercedes' dominance...

Part man...

Image source, Getty Images

...part machine...

Image source, Getty Images

...ruthless, efficient, unstoppable.

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes - seemingly the Terminator of Formula 1 - are back.