Pit Lane F1
Round 1 qualifying — Q1, Q2 and Q3 timing - 1996-03-10
Jacques Villeneuve (Williams) took pole for the 1996 Australian Grand Prix with a 1:32.371 lap.
Damon Hill (Williams) joined the front row, 0.138s shy of pole, with Eddie Irvine (Ferrari) third on the grid. Mika Salo (Tyrrell) was the slowest into Q3 in P10, while Olivier Panis (Ligier) missed the cut by 0.498s.
Q3 was settled inside 2.461s — pole to P10 — with Mika Salo (Tyrrell) closing the top ten.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams | 1:32.371 | — | — | 1:32.371 |
| 2 | Damon Hill | Williams | 1:32.509 | — | — | +0.138 |
| 3 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 1:32.889 | — | — | +0.518 |
| 4 | Michael Schumacher |
| Ferrari |
| 1:33.125 |
| — |
| — |
| +0.754 |
| 5 | Mika Häkkinen | McLaren | 1:34.054 | — | — | +1.683 |
| 6 | Jean Alesi | Benetton | 1:34.257 | — | — | +1.886 |
| 7 | Gerhard Berger | Benetton | 1:34.344 | — | — | +1.973 |
| 8 | Rubens Barrichello | Jordan | 1:34.474 | — | — | +2.103 |
| 9 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber | 1:34.494 | — | — | +2.123 |
| 10 | Mika Salo | Tyrrell | 1:34.832 | — | — | +2.461 |
| 11 | Olivier Panis | Ligier | 1:35.330 | — | — | +2.959 |
| 12 | Jos Verstappen | Footwork | 1:35.338 | — | — | +2.967 |
| 13 | David Coulthard | McLaren | 1:35.351 | — | — | +2.980 |
| 14 | Johnny Herbert | Sauber | 1:35.453 | — | — | +3.082 |
| 15 | Ukyo Katayama | Tyrrell | 1:35.715 | — | — | +3.344 |
| 16 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Minardi | 1:35.898 | — | — | +3.527 |
| 17 | Pedro Lamy | Minardi | 1:36.109 | — | — | +3.738 |
| 18 | Ricardo Rosset | Footwork | 1:36.198 | — | — | +3.827 |
| 19 | Martin Brundle | Jordan | 1:36.286 | — | — | +3.915 |
| 20 | Pedro Diniz | Ligier | 1:36.298 | — | — | +3.927 |