Daniil Kvyat was left frustrated and out in the cold after an early exit from Q1 which made him the biggest casualty of the first qualifying segment.
The Red Bull charger posted an initial time which, when the elimination cut came into play, left him 18th, a mishap the Russian put on bad timing and on-track congestion.
"Of course it’s frustrating to be P18 but we will learn from what we have done today," lamented Kvyat.
"My first lap was compromised by traffic so I had to give it up, and on the second push lap the tyres lost a lot of performance so it wasn’t enough.
"It’s a new system and someone had to get it wrong and today it was us but we have plenty of things to analyse from our short life in Q1.
Kvyat is relying on team mate Daniel Ricciardo's own qualifying performance to gauge the Red Bull's potential for tomorrow. But a run up the field will not be without risk and implies a safe passage through the first turn after the start.
"I will do my best to go through the field tomorrow, definitely. It’s not going to be enjoyable to start from P18 but it’s a long race and we have to try and squeeze everything out of it and bring some points home.
With regard to tyre allocation, Kvyat views any strategy as a potential unknown at this stage and one which may induce a few surprises.
"The new tire allocation is interesting. It is always better to have softer tires for qualifying so that we can go a bit faster in the corners and show a bit more the potential and speed of the F1 cars, which is good.
"In the race it will be another question answered because it gives a bit more variation of tactics. Let’s see what everyone will go for and maybe there will be two different sides of this tire selection to start, and probably it can bring something exciting at the end of the race."
As it happened: Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix
F1i's Australian Grand Prix preview
2016 F1 season: Team-by-team preview
