MELBOURNE, Australia — Ferrari's
Charles Leclerc claimed
pole on Saturday for the Australian Grand Prix ahead of title rival Max
Verstappen — and broke Lewis Hamilton's stranglehold on the Melbourne grid.
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World champion Verstappen's
Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez is on the second row after coming in third ahead of
McLaren's Lando Norris at Albert Park.
Mercedes' Hamilton, who has been the pole-sitter
eight times in Melbourne, including the last six in a row, will start an
encouraging fifth.
It is a second pole of the year for Monaco's
Leclerc after the season-opening race in Bahrain, where he went on to win.
He knocked out his rivals with a flying lap
at the death of one minute 17.868, fractionally ahead of Red Bull's
Verstappen,
who won in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago.
This was more evidence ahead of Sunday's
third race of the campaign that they are the two to beat this season.
"It felt good, even more because it's a
track where I've always struggled in the past, in Q3 I managed to put
everything together so it feels great, very happy," said the 24-year-old
Leclerc.
"The car is nice to drive, everything
is possible tomorrow. We need a good start."
Verstappen had complained of oversteer and
balance problems in the final practice ahead of qualifying and the Dutchman
said he was still struggling despite being second-fastest.
"I didn't really feel good in the car
all weekend. I don't think there's been one lap where I've felt good in the
car," said Verstappen, also 24.
"We'll try to analyze it. This weekend
has been all over the place. Happy to be second, but as a team we want
more."
While Mercedes' speed is improving, it still
has problems with porpoising — bouncing too much at speed. But fifth was a
major improvement for Hamilton, who only qualified 16th in
Jeddah. His
team-mate George Russell was sixth on Saturday.
"Compared to yesterday and to the last
race, today was a good day for me," said Britain's seven-time world
champion Hamilton.
"I almost got P4, which would have been
cool, but we'll be fighting for that position tomorrow."
Both McLarens made the third part of
qualifying for the first time this season with Daniel Ricciardo coming seventh.
Esteban Ocon in an Alpine was eighth and Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari
ninth.
Veteran
Fernando Alonso, who has been quick
all weekend in the Alpine, had to settle for 10th after crashing at Turn 11,
saying on the radio he couldn't shift down gears.
'He hit me'
It was a dismal day for four-time world
champion Sebastian Vettel, who sent his
Aston Martin into a wall in the final
practice and managed just three laps in qualifying.
He finished 18th to cap a miserable time for
the German, who missed the opening two races of the year with Covid, suffered
engine failure on Friday and was fined 5,000 euros (US$5,437) after riding a
moped on the track.
His team-mate Lance Stroll also endured a
tough day. After crashing in third practice, his crew patched up the car and
got him out with four minutes left of Q1.
But before he completed a lap, he and
Nicholas Latifi got tangled up, leaving debris from the Canadian's Williams
strewn on the track.
"He just hit me man," Stroll said
in an expletive-laden radio message, with Latifi responding: "I don't
understand what he was doing, he wasn't looking in his mirrors. Car's
destroyed."
Stewards sided with Latifi and handed Stroll
a three-place grid penalty. Not that it made any difference, as he
was classified last anyway after failing to set a time.
Perez topped Q2 from Sainz and Leclerc with
Valtteri Bottas, the 2019 Melbourne winner, a casualty in his Alfa Romeo.
The Finn's team-mate Zhou Guanyu also missed
the cut for the top-10 shootout, as did Mick Schumacher in a Haas and
AlphaTauri pair Pierre Gasly and
Yuki Tsunoda.
Verstappen was fastest in Q1 ahead of Perez.
Along with Latifi, Stroll and Vettel, Kevin
Magnussen in a Haas and Williams' Alex Albon, who already has a three-place
grid drop after an incident in Saudi Arabia, also failed to get out of Q1.
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