Australian Grand Prix 2018 qualifying LIVE: Latest news as Lewis Hamilton goes for pole

In the final practice session before qualifying, Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari began to show their true pace on a drying track.

The early part of the session had been carried out in damp conditions but when the track began to warm up, Vettel strapped on the purple ultra-softs and produced the fastest time of the afternoon.

But Lewis Hamilton had already taken the upper hand with the fastest time in each of the first two practice sessions as Mercedes confirmed their tag as favourites.

Express Sport brings you all the latest from Melbourne.

Australian Grand Prix 2018 qualifying LIVE

6.35am: Force india still struggling a bit. Ocon didn't set a time in his first run and doesn't look like he's got it hooked up at the moment. Hamilton fastest at the moment with the two Ferraris in second and third.

Good news for McLaren at the moment. Looks like they might make it into Q3!

6.30am: Ooh this is interesting. Max Verstappen is out on the super-softs, which is not the softest tyre available. Remember, your fastest Q2 tyre is the one you start the race on - so are Red Bull planning a different strategy? I think they might be.

6.25am: Think I've worked out where it all went wrong for Gasly - the Frenchman locked up at Turn 2 and had to go through the gravel. Not great for the man I tipped to be rookie of the year. Real kiss of death that is. Sorry Pierre. My fault.

6.18am: Esteban Ocon SQUEEZES into Q2 - I don't think Force India would have expected to be down there. Sauber are indeed out but actually, given how bad the car appears to be handling, not being last looks like a decent result. Two rookies on the back row.

Eliminated: 16th Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso), 17th Marcus Ericsson (Sauber), 18th Charles Leclerc (Sauber), 19th Sergey Sirotkin (Williams), 20th Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso).

6.15am: Two minutes to go and Sergey Sirtokin is, as predicted, being dragged into the relegation dog-fight. Ericsson has found some pace to move up to 15th with Pierre Gasly struggling. Everyone is out for the final lap at the back of the grid...

6.08am: 10 minutes to go and the two Saubers are indeed last. Both Toro Rossos are at risk at the moment too, as well as Lance Stroll in the Williams.

6am: Here we go then. In one hour's time, we will have our first pole-sitter of the season. 2018 is live - and it's started to cloud over and cool down a bit. No rain though - yet...

5.55am: Who's going to go out in Q1? Well, I think we can guess that Sauber will not be challenging for the top 15 and Williams seem to be struggling with reliability so Stroll and Sirotkin have had limited running. Not good for the famous British team.

5.45am: Weather update. We did have rain during practice earlier but, to the relief of the top teams who might fear Red Bull in the wet, the track started drying out even during FP3.

And now, we have temperatures of around 23 degrees Celsius and no rain. That might mean Hamilton is pretty much a lock for pole if you ask me.

5.30am: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers." Shakespeare of course forgot the sisters - but the sentiment remains the same. If you've got up for this race, we are bound in blood.

Well, maybe not blood. Petrol. I don't know. It's early. Stick the kettle on, put your feet up and wait half an hour for qualifying to kick off.