Leclerc defeated Ferstappen to take pole position in Australia

Charles Leclerc took pole position in Australia with a time of 1m17.868s, his second of the season, ahead of the two Red Bulls Ferstappen (1m18.154s) and Perez (1m18.240s). The fight for the top lasted until the final, in which the Monegasque defeated the Dutchman. Lando Norris will start from 4th place, while places 5-6 have been taken by Hamilton and Russell. Let’s take things from the beginning.

In Q1, Ferstappen was the fastest, followed by Perez and Leclerc. The red flag was raised two minutes before the end of the first part of qualifying tests in Australia. Stroll passed Latifi who wasn’t on the hot lap. The Canadian immediately accelerated, tried to overtake the Aston Martin from the inside, Stroll didn’t look in the rear-view mirror and crashed into Latifi, who landed in the crash barriers.

The drivers, mainly in the second half of the standings, returned to improve their times, with Albon (Williams), Magnussen (Haas), Vettel (Aston Martin), Latifi (Williams) and Stroll (Aston Martin) staying out of Q2 .

In Q2, the two Red Bulls and the two Ferraris continued to duel. Perez was the fastest (1:15.340), Saint and Leclerc left Ferstappen in 4th place. Gasley (AlphaTauri), Botas (Alfa Romeo), Chunoda (AlphaTauri), Chao (Alfa Romeo) and Mick Schumacher (Haas) were not in the top ten.

The accounts were settled in the third part of the ranking among the ten fastest drivers. In the first rounds of Q3, Charles Leclerc was faster with 1:18.239, followed by Perez (+0.159) and Max Ferstappen (+0.160).

At 6:58 before the finale of the trial, the second red flag came when Alonso crashed into the guard rails due to a problem in Alpine’s hydraulic system. Up to this moment, the Spaniard has had an excellent presence and will start the game on Sunday 10th. Coming back into the final minutes, Ferstappen climbed to the top with a 1’18.154, but Leclerc responded with a 1’17.868, making an amazing first sector and taking pole position.