Good to have you along Sophie! I'm three coffees to the good already. Not recommended.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Crikey Jack! This belongs in the things #moreconfusingthatqualifying, external hashtag

You can listen to Jack Nicholls right now, and check whether his extensive notes have done the business, by listening to BBC Radio 5 live build up now, online or on the radio.

Image source, Getty Images

Pole-placed Lewis Hamilton speaking after the parade lap: "What happens is we always have the greatest crowd every year here. I hope it's more exciting than yesterday. I'm just looking forward (not at who's behind me) - if there's a car in front of me I'll go for it."

After rain on Friday and a cloudy day yesterday, the sun is back out in Melbourne as the drivers are chauffeured around the track on the parade lap. It should stay that way for the race too. But then, this is Melbourne.

Here's how the grid looks. A 50th career pole has put Lewis Hamilton in prime position to kick off his title defence with a win. 

There's been a couple of penalties, with Valtteri Bottas dropping five places to 16th after an unscheduled gearbox change on his Williams, while Rio Haryanto was given a three-place penalty after colliding with Romain Grosjean in the pits during qualifying yesterday.

1) Hamilton 2) Rosberg

3) Vettel 4) Raikkonen 

5) Verstappen 6) Massa

7) Sainz 8) Ricciardo 

9) Perez 10) Hulkenberg

11) Alonso 12) Button

13) Palmer 14) Magnussen

15) Ericsson 16) Bottas

17) Nasr 18) Kvyat

19) Grosjean 20) Gutierrez

21) Wehrlein 22) Haryanto  

BBC Radio 5 Live

Right, time is swiftly ticking on so let's switch focus to what we are all here for - the first race of the season!

Lights out is at 05:00 GMT, with BBC Radio 5 live build up and commentary starting at 04:00.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Melbourne

What is widely agreed to have been the fiasco of the new qualifying system is in the past - almost certainly forever - and on Sunday there is a motor race to enjoy. For anyone who watched Formula 1 in 2015, the grid has a familiar feel - Lewis Hamilton on pole, two Mercedes on the front row - followed by two Ferraris. And the gaps don’t look that different, either. But both Mercedes and Ferrari say they think the red cars are closer than they looked. Are they right? There is a delicious anticipation to any race - and the first race of the season more than more. Some sense of the shape of the season will emerge over the next two hours or so.    

Image source, rex

Former Red Bull driver and native Aussie Mark Webber has been speaking to BBC Radio 5 live about the qualifying U-turn.

"It's a no-brainer. Q3 was obviously a massive faceplant. It didn't really work out.

"The fans wants to see drivers pushing and having options at the end.

"But it was predicted on the way in to be honest. Thank God they've reacted fast. Let's just hope those guys making these decisions don't get involved in future decisions."

A historic moment, then, and while the powers that be at F1 will be determined to forget about this moment, pub quizzes throughout the world will guarantee it won't be so easily forgotten. A great question for a few years time.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Australia

Image source, Getty Images

So, qualifying, then. Following pretty much universal condemnation of the new knock-out format after its debut on Saturday, the teams bosses and sporting directors met with governing body the FIA on Sunday and have agreed unanimously to revert to the previous format from the next race in Bahrain. 

The decision still needs to go through the usual legal formalities of votes of the F1 Commission and FIA World Council, but that is expected to be a rubber-stamping process. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone started off the whole farrago, and this new format was introduced after the teams felt that a more radical reverse-grid-style proposal by Ecclestone was even worse. 

As Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff put it, “there were two options on the table and we went for the least worst”. Wolff, though, says he has spoken to Ecclestone and the 85-year-old will agree to revert to the previous format for now.

Image source, Getty Images

If Lewis Hamilton's laps were as sexy as fancy underwear, then qualifying itself was about as sexy as ill-fitting dungarees. 

The new format of rolling eliminations every 90 seconds started with plenty of action but ended with most drivers electing not to go out on the track in the final part of qualifying and instead saved their tyres for today's race.

The result was Lewis Hamilton securing an anti-climatic pole position a couple of minutes before fans were treated to an empty circuit as the drivers called it a day.

It was farcical, and the voices calling for it to be scrapped were loud, and pretty much everyone will be pleased to know that those calls were answered...

Image source, Getty Images

...I knew that I would.

Lewis Hamilton said he felt like James Brown after some "sexy laps" in qualifying yesterday.

They were very sexy indeed as the reigning world champion went and plonked himself on pole for today's Australian Grand Prix. 

Will a few more sexy laps take him to victory in the first race of the season?