Saturday was a momentous day for Lewis Hamilton. Not only did he claim his fifth career pole in Qualifying for the opening round of the Formula One season at Albert Park, but his 62nd pole overall - putting him within three of his idol, Ayrton Senna.
Whilst yesterday proved to be a Mercedes dominated day, Ferrari brought the fight to the dominant German marque, Sebastian Vettel breaking his own ultimate track record in Free Practice 3, and going onto to claim the Scuderia's first front row start in 18 months a few hours later.
Meanwhile, there were changes at Sauber. Pascal Wehrlein had doubts over his race fitness, weeks after a terrifying crash at the Race of Champions had sidelined him from the first winter test. The man who deputised for him in Barcelona, Antonio Giovinazzi, took his spot once more - and impressed in the process.
Whilst most prefer to do their talking on the track, what did the 20 drivers have to say off of it?
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton - 1st: "These new cars are so fun to drive. This track is incredible as it is, but having that grip we have now... [Turns] 11 and 12...oof! I wish that you could feel how crazy fast it is! To be honest, my last lap through there wasn't that good - generally through the weekend, it has been good."
Valtteri Bottas - 3rd: "I felt good. I'm feeling better today than yesterday, but still didn't quite get the perfect lap. It is a tricky place to get a lap right and it's easy to have three or so tenths time lost, if you don't get everything perfect. Historically this place has been quite poor for me."
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo - DNF (10th): "[The car] definitely didn't give me much time to catch it. Obviously, it's not an excuse, but when they go, they go. I just turned into [Turn] 14 and could feel the rear was quite light on entry, but before I could correct it, it was already gone."
Max Verstappen - 5th: "I could see this coming after winter testing. I always try to be very realistic and straightaway after winter testing, I could see that we certainly weren't the quickest. You hope and pray that it will be better for the first race, but clearly from day one, it was difficult. This is more or less where we expected to be."
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel - 2nd: "You always want to fight for the win. [Mercedes and Hamilton] has done a good job the last couple of years. The year is long. We had a fairly competitive car the last couple of years, but we're getting there."
Kimi Raikkonen - 4th: "I made life complicated for myself right from the first session; I never managed to put all the sectors together and that cost me time. The car feels strong and I just have to do better."
Force India
Sergio Perez - 11th: "It’s disappointing to miss out on the top ten by such a small margin – less than a tenth of a second. However, P11 is not a bad starting position and we can certainly race for good points. All the teams in the midfield seem to be very close to each other in terms of performance."
Esteban Ocon - 13th: "I started very far off Sergio [Perez] and was pretty close in the second run. I finished off with a mistake, so a bit frustrating - but I think I'm on my learning curve in Australia and there is the race to do tomorrow."
Williams
Lance Stroll - 19th (20th with penalty): "What happened in FP3 was a little touch and it led to a lot of things. The qualifying session was in a rush and we didn’t get to do what we had planned. It is a long race and, played intelligently, we can do something but we will work that out tonight and see about tomorrow."
Felipe Massa - 7th: "Not bad for an old boy! I was happy with the laps I was doing in the whole of Q1, Q2 and Q3. I lost a lot of mileage this weekend, so the first time I drove with the ultra-soft was just now in Qualifying. I'm really looking forward for a good race tomorrow."
McLaren
Stoffel Vandoorne - 18th: "I had a fuel pressure issue in Q1 and had to abort my first two runs as the engine was running low on power. That was a shame because, after FP3, everything was heading in the right direction and I was feeling confident."
Fernando Alonso - 13th: "AWe came to Melbourne without a clear idea of where we stood. Finishing the race is going to be tough. And, if we do finish it, to end up in a decent position we’ll need help from the weather and for other cars to encounter trouble."
Haas
Romain Grosjean - 6th: "Sixth position around Melbourne works pretty well, so I'd be very smiley tomorrow if that's the case! We’ve made some good progress over the weekend. There’s a lot more we can understand and analyse but, generally, it’s a great start for us."
Kevin Magnussen - 17th: "You can't show up to any race and feel comfortable straight away; [the cars] are a lot quicker! It's so cool to drive and it's what we need in Formula 1 as the drivers, as it's difficult to get to the limit. But that's where we want to be challenged and today I just went over that limit."
Renault
Nico Hulkenberg - 12th: "We were just tenths away from Q3 and it was definitely on the cards, however, I struggled a bit with the balance and grip on my fastest Q2 lap, so it wasn’t to be. It is difficult to predict what to expect tomorrow; but what I do know is that the midfield is very competitive."
Jolyon Palmer - 20th (19th with Stroll penalty): Yesterday, I did...four laps. But at least the car was feeling good. Yeah, I crashed - which was my bad, but I was really happy with the car at least and showing something sensible on the lap times. But today...the car was put back together - I have to thank the guys, but we're actually a disaster."
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson - 15th: "Throughout the weekend we've worked hard to maximise our current package. I managed to set a good lap in Q1, which was enough to put us in Q2. The second Qualifying session started off well, but then I went a bit wide in Turn 9, so I lost some lap time there."
Antonio Giovinazzi - 16th: "I was quite happy, to be honest. Just a few tenths from my teammate, from Q2. Tomorrow will be a long race and the target is still to not make a mistake, to finish the race and we will see where we are at the end."