MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Pastor Maldonado blamed his “undriveable” Williams car rather than the torrential rain for being among the first six cars eliminated in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Venezuelan, who won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position last year, said the Williams team was back in the same state as in his rookie season in 2011, their worst in 35 years in the sport.

MELBOURNE, March 16 (Reuters) – Pastor Maldonado blamed his “undriveable” Williams car rather than the torrential rain for being among the first six cars eliminated in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Venezuelan, who won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position last year, said the Williams team was back in the same state as in his rookie season in 2011, their worst in 35 years in the sport.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Qualifying for the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix will be completed before the race on Sunday after heavy rain forced the postponement of the final two sections on Saturday.

The opening segment of qualifying was completed after a delay but, as the rain persisted and the skies grew darker, race officials decided the final two parts would take place at 11am (0000 GMT) local time on Sunday.

MELBOURNE, March 16 (Reuters) – Qualifying for the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix will be completed before the race on Sunday after heavy rain forced the postponement of the final two sections on Saturday.

The opening segment of qualifying was completed after a delay but, as the rain persisted and the skies grew darker, race officials decided the final two parts would take place at 11am (0000 GMT) local time on Sunday.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Lotus driver Romain Grosjean topped the times in third practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Saturday after a rain storm descended on the circuit 20 minutes into the session.

The Frenchman’s best lap of one minute 26.929 enabled him to leapfrog the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso (1.27.000) and Felipe Massa (1.27.241) into top spot.

MELBOURNE, March 16 (Reuters) – Lotus driver Romain Grosjean topped the times in third practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Saturday after a rain storm descended on the circuit 20 minutes into the session.

The Frenchman’s best lap of one minute 26.929 enabled him to leapfrog the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso (1.27.000) and Felipe Massa (1.27.241) into top spot.

MELBOURNE, March 16 (Reuters) – Lotus driver Romain Grosjean topped the times in third practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Saturday after a rain storm descended on the circuit 20 minutes into the session.

The Frenchman’s best lap of one minute 26.929 enabled him to leapfrog the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso (1.27.000) and Felipe Massa (1.27.241) into top spot.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – McLaren’s gamble on overhauling their car for the 2013 season looked to have backfired on Friday when they had a miserable day in the first two practice sessions at the Australian Grand Prix.

The British-based team won the last two races of last season but their cars were well off the pace at Albert Park with Jenson Button finishing 11th fastest in the second session – 2.386 seconds behind Red Bull’s triple world champion Sebastian Vettel.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Nico Rosberg drew first blood in his personal battle with new Mercedes team mate and old friend Lewis Hamilton on Friday – a tussle he hopes will spur him on to become an even better driver this year.

The first day of the Australian Grand Prix was marred for the team when technical problems resulted in a premature end to the second practice session for both drivers but third place on the timesheets for Rosberg offered much promise for the season.

MELBOURNE, March 15 (Reuters) – Nico Rosberg drew first blood in his personal battle with new Mercedes team mate and old friend Lewis Hamilton on Friday – a tussle he hopes will spur him on to become an even better driver this year.

The first day of the Australian Grand Prix was marred for the team when technical problems resulted in a premature end to the second practice session for both drivers but third place on the timesheets for Rosberg offered much promise for the season.