The drivers are lined up on the grid ready for the anthem. Not long to go until this race begins.

Today will be the first race in Melbourne since 2019 after two years without an Australian Grand Prix because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Valtteri Bottas won that day, having started second on the grid behind Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Will we have another winner from second today?

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Andrew Priestley: Who thought it was a good idea to organise the Australian GP and the Masters for the same weekend? Don’t they realise people need their sleep!?

Jeremiah Kariuki: So, in the front, a battle between Leclerc and Max. May Charles take it? Right behind, another battle between Norris, Hamilton and Russell. That will be a battle of resilience.

Ranting MrP: Fireworks guaranteed with the slipstream Max will get behind Charles, so it's looking quite good for Mercedes if they can keep it together in the first sector to grab some positions. I think it's on here for one of the Mercs to get on the podium. Call me an optimist!

"It's nuts, mate," says Daniel Ricciardo when asked about the atmosphere on Sky.

He's clearly the big fan favourite at his home GP.

Excitement is really building now.

What are you expecting? Who will win? Who will be the surprise package?

Tweet your predictions to #bbcf1.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Not many people would have predicted coming to Australia that the fastest Mercedes-engined car in qualifying would be a McLaren, after the team’s difficult start to the year. But there is Lando Norris in fourth on the grid, ahead of both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Both he and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo - who is seventh, just behind Russell - said they felt by far the biggest reason for this upturn in form was the characteristics of the Albert Park track and its “similarities to Saudi in terms of the flowing high-speed nature of it,” Ricciardo said.

Norris put it down to “80-20 just track”, and team boss Andreas Seidl explained: “There are three main reasons why we have been again a bit more competitive compared to Jeddah. For sure, it's the track layout which suits our car more with the current package that we are having, this more fluent track layout similar to Jeddah as well.

"Then I think in terms of performance, we brought some small upgrades which worked, and every little bit helps. But then also we shouldn't forget that we started the season really on the back foot, with missing out on a lot of laps at the Bahrain test.”

Lando Norris, who will start fourth, speaking to Sky Sports: "Luckily I don't have too many cars ahead of me. The Alpines are fast but our race today will be with Mercedes. As long as I finish at the front I'll be happier."

Italy World Cup winning footballer Marco Materazzi is the first random celeb spotted on the grid.

No sign of Zinedine Zidane...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

There has been much talk about the revamped Albert Park circuit this weekend.

The old chicane has been removed, the surface re-laid and various corners widened.

While the changes have provided talking points and faster lap times in qualifying today we will really see whether they have worked.

The hope is the tweaks will allow better racing and more overtaking. We'll get some answers over the few hours.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

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Fernando Alonso felt himself in a more competitive position than at anytime for nine years in Melbourne qualifying, saying he believed the technical failure that caused him to crash in qualifying - later found to be a faulty oil ring that led to the car cutting out mid-corner -had prevented him from “fighting for pole position”.

That seemed a bit of a stretch in reality. Yes, he was just 0.064secs slower than Charles Leclerc after his first two sectors of his first flying lap. But it is the slow-corner dominated final sector where Alpine have been slowest all weekend - he was 0.333secs off there in Q2.

“When we look at it,” team boss Otmar Szafanuer said, “ultimately we’d have been either third or fourth on the grid. Fernando thinks third; I think fourth. But we have a quick car.”

Upgrades to the front of the floor and the rear brake fins were partly an explanation for the upward progress, and the team said they were also benefiting from better understanding how to get the best out of the car.

“The car is getting better and better,” Alonso said. “We feel more confident. The team is working hard and maybe a surprise to fight for pole, but not a surprise to be closer and closer to the leaders. It has been the best weekend for years for me. It is so frustrating not to execute it at the end.”

Alonso held on to the steering wheel until the last minute in the crash, something drivers are not meant to do to avoid injury. He was trying to save the front wing from damage but did indeed hurt himself - his hands are strapped for the race because of painful thumbs, but he says: "It's going to be OK for the race."

Alonso has had some bad luck with reliability in the first races - he is already on his third engine of the season. "It is amazing we have been so unlucky in these first three races, I was doing one of the best weekends in years. We will try to fight for some point but a podium was there for us this weekend and we missed that opportunity.”

Following Alonso's qualifying crash damage to an oil ring was found by Alpine which they say caused the car to cut out.

Work has since been done in the garage and the issue is, hopefully for the Spaniard, all sorted.

30 minutes to go until the lights go out. Albert Park is packed - a record crowd in fact.

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Fernando Alonso had threatened to really get amongst it at the top of the timesheets before his qualifying crash.

He was fourth fastest in second and third practice and was on course to go top of the standings in Q3 when an issue with his car meant he lost control and went into the barrier.

His Alpine looks quick and Alonso said he had been having his "best weekend in years" before the early exit.

What damage will he cause from 10th on the grid today?

It seems the teams are enjoying their return to Melbourne...

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

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Carlos Sainz felt as competitive as he has been all year, so he was gutted to end up ninth after a qualifying session he described as “a disaster”.

He was just metres from crossing the line at the end of his first lap in Q3 when the red flag was flown for Fernando Alonso’s accident. Then, when it restarted: “We had a problem with the starter, we couldn’t start the car, and went out three minutes later from when we were planning to go out. We couldn’t warm up the tyre, it was rushed and I had to do the lap with freezing tyres and it was a horrible lap. Very unlucky and everything that went wrong went wrong after I was in the fight for pole position for the whole of qualifying.”

He said he would stay angry until he went to bed, but was concerned that the removal of the fourth DRS zone along the back “straight” would make any comeback drive tougher.

“We’ll stay aggressive. It is a day to try and go forward,” Sainz said. “But at the same time the midfield is tighter this weekend, the midfield is closer to everyone else, we don’t have the advantage we had in Bahrain or other places.

“It’ll be a tougher race, and they removed the fourth DRS zone, which means overtaking now will go back to being extremely difficult and it is the worst possible scenario for me.”

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Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were 13th and 11th respectively in second practice at which point it looked like a miserable weekend was in store.

They haven't got to where they are used to - or where they want to be - but their qualifying positions of fifth for Hamilton and sixth for Russell are about as good as they could have hoped for.

Hamilton was happier than he has been in his interview post-qualifying.

They'll come under pressure from the cars behind - not least Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso in ninth and 10th.

What would be a success for the silver arrows today?

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

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Second he might have been, but Max Verstappen was not a happy man after qualifying in Melbourne, annoyed by a trend in which he has struggled to get a decent balance in any qualifying session this year. Verstappen said the car had been “terrible” for him all weekend. “Just not a good balance, all the time chasing something and I never felt comfortable for one lap - except the long runs,” he said.

Struggling through the corners on one on-the-limit lap he may have been, but Verstappen has a significant advantage over Leclerc on the straights - nearly 7km/h through the speed trap at the end of the pit straight and nearly 4km/h before Turn Nine. Add the DRS to that in the race and if Verstappen’s behind the Ferrari it could be a race a little like Jeddah two weeks ago.

“Normally in the race, you know, the car stabilises a bit more, and it's not so peaky, compared to finding the grip in qualifying. So, it naturally should be a little bit better. And I think my long run yesterday look quite good in terms of how I felt.”

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Aston Martin's Lance Stroll has been given a three-placed grid penalty after he was deemed responsible for his crash with Williams' Nicholas Latifi's in Q1 on Saturday.

The stewards said Stroll was "predominantly to blame because of his lack of situational awareness of Latifi's passing manoeuvre."

Stroll finished last in qualifying but Williams' Alex Albon has since been disqualified for having insufficient fuel left after his run so he will start at the back with Stroll 19th.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Charles Leclerc took his second pole in three races this year with another peach of a lap. Quickest on the first runs in final qualifying but beaten by Sergio Perez and then Max Verstappen on their final laps, Leclerc grabbed it back by 0.286 seconds - the biggest margin of the year on the shortest lap so far.

The data said that he was consistently better on corner exit than Verstappen, able to get on to the throttle sooner, a reflection on the lack of confidence the world champion said he had had in the Red Bull all weekend. And the numbers also said that the two were level until Turn 13, where Leclerc gained 0.2secs as a result of Verstappen rolling in more speed, but then being later to the throttle.

But Leclerc himself felt that Turn Six - faster this year, and taken in fifth gear in the Ferrari - was the key.

“I took quite a bit of risk, especially in Turn Six, which was quite tricky,” Leclerc said. “I wasn't really on it during qualifying on this corner, just doing some mistakes, and then in the last Q3 laps, I managed to make it right. And I think I gained quite a bit on myself compared to the other laps.”