Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday’s Grand Prix on pole position and former teammate Nico Rosberg believes all his rivals should just give up now.

It didn’t appear quite so dominant initially, with only 0.061 seconds separating the top three of Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen.

But then the Brit decided he’d had enough of this game of inches and blasted away from the pack, finishing a huge 0.664 seconds ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in second.

Speaking to Sky Sports afterwards, his former teammate was quick to assert that the signs were ominous.

“This was a Lewis Hamilton lap," Rosberg declared.

"When he’s in this form the rest may as well pack up and go because there is no way of beating him.

"That looked extremely special.”

With his latest pole in Australia, Lewis joined Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna as the only drivers to ever claim seven pole positions at a single Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Hamilton’s teammate Valterri Bottas had a less successful day on the track.

Heading into the final qualifying session, the Finn went into turn one too fast, and spun hard into the wall, damaging his gearbox in the process.

The major crash caused a lot of damage to Bottas' car, much to the frustrations of Toto Wolff, who will be monitoring his driver heavily throughout the season.

Adding insult to injury, because of the enforced gearbox change, Bottas will also have a five-place grid penalty for the race tomorrow.

He will have to produce something special to displace his teammate.

Last season Hamilton was behind the whole way up to the mid-season break, yet still won the championship comfortably.

If he is starting this season in front of everyone, then it could be a very long year for his rivals.

That's what Rosberg thinks anyway, and who are we to disagree?