Ricciardo: Anyone could have delivered Hamilton's lap time

Daniel Ricciardo says any of Formula 1's leading drivers would have been capable of delivering the record-breaking lap time Lewis Hamilton set during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, if they had access to the power in his Mercedes car.

Hamilton smashed the Albert Park record by stopping the watch at one minute and 21.164 seconds in his final flying run to take pole position by over six tenths from Ferrari duo Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.

Max Verstappen and Ricciardo qualified fourth and fifth-fastest, although the Australian will start the race eighth thanks to a grid penalty.

The world champion's seventh pole in Australia is another record, but came after he, Vettel and Verstappen had been separated by just six hundredths of a second going into the final runs.

Hamilton and Vettel had a tetchy exchange over the Mercedes engine's "party mode" after qualifying and Ricciardo admitted seeing the Silver Arrows so dominant was a "punch in the stomach" for their rivals.

"It's frustrating cause, I'm over it, I think everyone else wants to see them [Mercedes] get challenged a bit more, so that was a little bit of a punch in the stomach to everyone," Ricciardo said.

???????????? 73 @F1 poles and counting for @LewisHamilton!! pic.twitter.com/eI75rVCaO8 — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) March 24, 2018

"I know that obviously they're loving it, they're in a good position, but everyone else is hating it.

"I didn't expect that much. Particularly, like, from Q2 to Q3. I knew they had a bit more, I expected them to be more than two tenths quicker than us.

"Yeah, that was like throwing a pie in everyone's face. Look, they can do it, they're obviously the ones that are leading, I know it would be nice to be in that position, but for everyone else it sucks."

On Hamilton, Ricciardo added: "I think he's very good - but I think obviously their car and their package is too good.

"It's not to discredit Lewis, not at all. But I think even him at 90 percent with that package that they had today, he still would've got pole.

"So that's where it's like, I feel any of us top guys obviously could've made that happen [in the Mercedes].

"But the buffer they had then was... yeah, a little bit disheartening I guess. But we've got to try and figure it out."