(CNN) -- Lewis Hamilton had a 2011 season to forget, but the former world champion showed on Saturday that he and McLaren teammate Jenson Button are ready to challenge Red Bull's Formula One supremacy.
The British driver headed off his fellow former world champion to claim pole position for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the new campaign.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, seeking to become the third driver in F1 history to win three successive world titles, was back in sixth -- a place behind his teammate Mark Webber.
French driver Romain Grosjean was surprisingly third for Lotus, outshining teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Much was expected of the 2007 world champion's return to the grid, but the Finn did not get past the first stage of qualifying.
Is champion Vettel still the man to beat in 2012?
The 2012 Formula One season sees the introduction of a four-hour limit for races, following last year's rain-delayed marathon in Canada. Charlie Whiting, the FIA's race director, explained the decision, telling the sport's official website: "Should four hours elapse during a future race, drivers will receive a signal telling them they have one more lap before the checkered flag."
Formula One rule changes for 2012
Australian Grand Prix: March 18, Melbourne
Formula One 2012: The circuits
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher followed up his promising practice efforts from Friday by claiming fourth for Mercedes, with teammate Nico Rosberg seventh.
Ferrari's preseason problems translated into a bad day for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and 2008 runner-up Felipe Massa, neither of whom reached the third and final session -- qualifying 12th and 16th respectively.
Can anyone catch Red Bull Racing?
Flyover: Australian Grand Prix
Hamilton was runner-up to Vettel in Melbourne last year, but claimed only one pole position all season -- in South Korea -- as he struggled to fifth overall due to a mix of off-track personal issues and on-circuit problems.
"It's an incredible feeling to be back here and to get off to such a good start. I think this is mine and Jenson's first one-two -- I believe at least -- in qualifying, so it's fantastic to start the season this way," he told reporters after setting a final time of one minute 24.922 seconds to earn the 20th pole of his career.
Button won the race in 2009 when he was world champion with Brawn GP and then again in his first season at McLaren, but was only sixth last season before going on to be runner-up in the championship.
"Congratulations to Lewis and the whole team. I think we have done a very good job this winter and I think we have proved that today," the 32-year-old said after clocking 1:25.074.
"I was actually a bit surprised by the gap back to the Red Bulls and some of the other teams but, yeah, we'll definitely take that."
Red Bull started first on the grid for 18 of last year's 19 races, but the early indications are that this season will be closer as teams adapt to a raft of rule changes.
Vettel's time of 1:25.668 was more than half a second slower than Hamilton, while Webber clocked 1:25.61 as the 35-year-old -- victorious in the last race of 2011 in Brazil -- seeks his first win on his home circuit.
"We would have loved to have been closer to the front, but in Q3 I wasn't happy with my lap," the German said. "I made a mistake at the beginning and lost some time, so that was down to me.
"I could have been one or two places higher, but that's how it goes. We are not starting at the front, but we are not starting at the back either, so it's far from disastrous and regarding the car we know what we need to do."
F1's official website reported that Red Bull and Lotus are considering an appeal against Mercedes' new F-duct rear wing, which supposedly channels air along the side of the car to improve straight-line speed performance.
HRT drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan will not take part in Sunday's race after failing to set times that satisfied F1's 107% rule (in relation to the quickest lap) in Q1. The Spanish team also failed to take part in last year's opening race.
Q3 results:
1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 1:24.922
2. Jenson Button (McLaren) 1:25.074
3. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 1:25.302
4. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) 1:25.336
5. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1:25.651
6. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1:25.668
7. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:25.686
8. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) Williams 1:25.908
9. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) 1:26.451
10. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) Did not set a time
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Teams can no longer use engine exhaust to produce large amounts of downforce -- a practice which has been prevalent for the last two years in the form of blown diffusers. Now exhaust pipes must exit in a defined area at the back of the car, not run along its underbelly.
Many of this year's cars feature a dramatic stepped-nose design. Whiting said this is to make sure the height of the nose was lower than the sides of the cockpit, therefore reducing the risk to the driver in the event of a collision.
In previous seasons, cars had to pass crash tests in order to compete in races. Now, cars must pass the FIA's 18 mandatory tests before the official preseason test events. "It is indefensible to have drivers testing cars in the winter that haven't met the safety standards we demand for a race," said Whiting.
As bizarre as it may sound, drivers have been told not to drive off the race track without good reason. "We've seen drivers taking shortcuts on in and out laps, either to save time or fuel," explained Whiting.
Pit stops are a crucial part of F1, and a race can be won or lost depending on how quickly the crew are able to replace a car's tires. In an attempt to save valuable time, teams have been known to power their wheel guns with compressed helium instead of air. But not anymore. "It saved fractions of a second," Whiting said. "It would have been a very expensive method of gaining no advantage."
The gulf in class between some cars means that the leading drivers often lap back-markers during a race. The safety car is deployed if there has been an accident on track or if conditions become dangerous. Drivers are not allowed to overtake each other under such conditions, but in 2012 strugglers will be able to un-lap themselves by going past the safety car and reforming at the back of the field.
Each driver is allowed 11 sets of tires to use over the course of a race weekend, but they must last through practice, Saturday qualifying and Sunday's race. Previously teams could only use three of their sets during Friday practice, but they will now be able to use as many as they like.
The highlight of any grand prix is seeing drivers attempt daring, fast-paced overtaking maneuvers. But now, when a driver has someone behind them, they are allowed to make only one defensive move to protect their position. This rule is to prevent potentially dangerous blocking strategies.
Malaysian Grand Prix: March 25, Kuala Lumpur 
Chinese Grand Prix: April 15, Shanghai 
Bahrain Grand Prix: April 22, Sakhir 
Spanish Grand Prix: May 13, Catalunya 
Monaco Grand Prix: May 27, Monte Carlo 
Canadian Grand Prix: June 10, Montreal 
European Grand Prix: June 24, Valencia 
British Grand Prix: July 8, Silverstone 
German Grand Prix: July 22, Hockenheim 
Hungarian Grand Prix: July 29, Budapest 
Belgian Grand Prix: September 2, Spa 
Italian Grand Prix: September 9, Monza 
Singapore Grand Prix: September 23, Singapore 
Japanese Grand Prix: October 7, Suzuka 
Korean Grand Prix: October 14, Yeongam 
Indian Grand Prix: October 28, New Delhi 
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: November 4, Yas Marina 
United States Grand Prix: November 18, Austin 
Brazilian Grand Prix: Sao Paulo, November 25 
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