Pit Lane F1
Round 1 qualifying — Q1, Q2 and Q3 timing - 1998-03-08
Mika Häkkinen (McLaren) took pole for the 1998 Australian Grand Prix with a 1:30.010 lap.
David Coulthard (McLaren) joined the front row, 0.043s shy of pole, with Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) third on the grid. Damon Hill (Jordan) was the slowest into Q3 in P10, while Alexander Wurz (Benetton) missed the cut by 0.327s.
Q3 was settled inside 2.389s — pole to P10 — with Damon Hill (Jordan) closing the top ten.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mika Häkkinen | McLaren | 1:30.010 | — | — | 1:30.010 |
| 2 | David Coulthard | McLaren | 1:30.053 | — | — | +0.043 |
| 3 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:30.767 | — | — | +0.757 |
| 4 | Jacques Villeneuve |
| Williams |
| 1:30.919 |
| — |
| — |
| +0.909 |
| 5 | Johnny Herbert | Sauber | 1:31.384 | — | — | +1.374 |
| 6 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Williams | 1:31.397 | — | — | +1.387 |
| 7 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Benetton | 1:31.733 | — | — | +1.723 |
| 8 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 1:31.767 | — | — | +1.757 |
| 9 | Ralf Schumacher | Jordan | 1:32.392 | — | — | +2.382 |
| 10 | Damon Hill | Jordan | 1:32.399 | — | — | +2.389 |
| 11 | Alexander Wurz | Benetton | 1:32.726 | — | — | +2.716 |
| 12 | Jean Alesi | Sauber | 1:33.240 | — | — | +3.230 |
| 13 | Toranosuke Takagi | Tyrrell | 1:33.291 | — | — | +3.281 |
| 14 | Rubens Barrichello | Stewart | 1:33.383 | — | — | +3.373 |
| 15 | Jarno Trulli | Prost | 1:33.739 | — | — | +3.729 |
| 16 | Mika Salo | Arrows | 1:33.927 | — | — | +3.917 |
| 17 | Esteban Tuero | Minardi | 1:34.646 | — | — | +4.636 |
| 18 | Jan Magnussen | Stewart | 1:34.906 | — | — | +4.896 |
| 19 | Ricardo Rosset | Tyrrell | 1:35.119 | — | — | +5.109 |
| 20 | Pedro Diniz | Arrows | 1:35.140 | — | — | +5.130 |
| 21 | Olivier Panis | Prost | 1:35.215 | — | — | +5.205 |
| 22 | Shinji Nakano | Minardi | 1:35.301 | — | — | +5.291 |