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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc grabbed pole from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the end of a dramatic qualifying session at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne |
Charles Leclerc took pole position for Ferrari in crash-laden qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday, pipping Red Bullโs world champion Max Verstappen on the upgraded Albert Park circuit.
Leclerc saved his best for last, his flying lap of one minute 17.868 seconds nearly three-tenths of a second quicker than Verstappen, leaving the Dutchman in a funk over the performance of his RB18 car.
Verstappen finished ahead of third quickest team mate Sergio Perez, with McLarenโs Lando Norris to start fourth on the grid.
Leclercโs 11th career pole and second of the season set up another Sunday showdown with Verstappen, the pairโs rivalry having dominated the early races.
Leclerc said he managed to โput everything togetherโ in the third and final phase of qualifying.
โThe car is nice to drive โฆ We were again quite surprised by our pace in qualifying,โ said the Monagesque.
โWe are again very close with Red Bull. So itโs going to be close racing tomorrow.โ
Verstappen said he was having a โterribleโ weekend, struggling with balance.
โI didnโt really feel good in the car the whole weekend so farโฆ. Of course second is still a good result,โ he added.
โAs a team we want more.โ
Perezโs grid position is in some doubt, having been summoned by stewards for allegedly failing to slow down when a yellow flag came out.
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, whose run of six consecutive poles at Albert Park was broken, will start fifth ahead of sixth-placed team mate George Russell in an encouraging session for Mercedes, who have struggled this season with a bouncy car.
However, they may end up battling McLaren to be the โbest of the restโ after Ferrari and Red Bull.
McLarenโs home hero Daniel Ricciardo will start seventh on the grid ahead of Alpineโs eighth-placed Esteban Ocon.
It was a tough afternoon for many of the drivers, with two red flags from big crashes and the sun low in the sky, impairing vision in the second phase of qualifying.
Adding to complications, race officials decided to remove one of the trackโs four DRS zones, which encourage over-taking, due to safety reasons after reviewing Fridayโs practice.
Twice world champion Fernando Alonso crashed out at the start of the final phase of qualifying, thudding his Alpine car into the wall at turn 11.
โI lost the hydraulics and couldnโt change gear,โ he lamented on the team radio before his car was hauled off track by a crane.
Aston Martinโs Lance Stroll collided with Williamsโs Nicholas Latifi at turn five in the first phase, putting both the Canadians out of action.
Latifi, who has now crashed in three of the last four race weekends, tried to overtake Stroll after letting him pass but ending up ploughing into him as Stroll veered to the right.
Stroll raged in an expletive-laden rant on the team radio, but Latifi blamed him for the mishap.
โHe just turned into me once I was alongside him,โ he told Sky.
Both were summoned to a hearing with race stewards.
Stroll and team mate Sebastian Vettel earlier crashed out in the final practice session on Saturday.
Strollโs qualifying mishap gave his team extra time to fix Vettelโs car and the four-times world champion finally emerged with two minutes left to post the second-slowest lap.
The German will start 17th on the grid, knocked out of the first phase along with Stroll, Williamsโ Alex Albon and Latifi, and Haasโs Kevin Magnussen.
REUTERS