Red Bull ace Sebastian Vettel says he is confident after sending a clear warning to his rivals with pole position for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Vettel beat out teammate Mark Webber by a little under half a second, with the local hope equalling his best grid position in Melbourne.

Lewis Hamilton gave his new team Mercedes reason for optimism when he qualified third while the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso followed.

Vettel exuded confidence after the session, giving every indication he planned to turn his 37th pole position into his 27th win.

“It has been a very good weekend for us so far,” Vettel said. “Since Friday, we got into the groove and I had a good feeling with the car.

“We confirmed that in all conditions, although obviously it was a bit tricky yesterday and I think it was the right decision to call off qualifying and continue today.”

Webber said his team had worked hard to produce an excellent result with a front-row lockout by Red Bull.

He also was confident of “a good race”.

“It was a great result from the team, it was very tricky in those (slippery) conditions and also very easy to make errors,” Webber said.

“We survived the small bullets yesterday and also got through today’s session with not far off the maximum we could get.

“In the end, it was a good qualie and we’re now in the position to have a good afternoon.”

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo failed to make it to the third qualifying session in his Torro Rosso, and will start from 14th on the grid – one spot behind his French teammate Jean-Eric Vergne.