Lewis Hamilton takes pole position ahead of Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton’s chances of winning this year’s Australian Grand Prix have improved after the Mercedes superstar took pole position ahead of Sunday’s season opener at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.

Prior to this, British bookmakers such as Bet365 were expected to lower the odds to fall on Sunday. According to Promotional Bonus Code in 2017, special bonus codes allow punters to get some extra cash when betting on Grand Prix.

The Briton topped a tight qualifying session Down Under and came out at the head of the grid as he finished 0.268 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel — expected by many to be Hamilton’s biggest competition for the 2017 Formula One title.

Mercedes newcomer Valtteri Bottas ended qualifying in third place and was 0.025 seconds slower than Vettel, whose Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen came in a close fourth.

Hamilton won the Australian Grand Prix on two occasions in his career — in 2008 and 2015. The Melbourne crown has provided the 32-year-old with good fortune thus far.

The three-time world champion has been tipped as a heavy favourite to win this year’s Australian GP ahead of Ferrari’s Vettel, who enters the bookmakers’ odds as a distant runner-up in the pre-race stakes.

However, Sunday’s meet was a major test for Bottas, who was primed to make his official debut as a Mercedes driver after taking over for the retired Nico Rosberg, also the reigning F1 world champion.

The Australian Grand Prix also provided Rosberg with good luck in 2016 as he won at the Melbourne meeting before going on to claim last year’s overall championship, continuing Mercedes’ reign over the world of F1 in the process.

Hamilton will also be hoping to improve upon last year’s performance, when he finished qualifying in pole position before finishing second to Rosberg by eight seconds.