Despite the dazzling day that many drivers complained about at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Monegasque was able to tame, in addition to Verstappen’s Red Bull, Mexican Sergio Pérez, 3rd in these qualifiers.

“I feel good! Especially since it’s a circuit where I’ve always had trouble in the past. […] It’s nice to drive a car, everything can be tomorrow. We need a good start, ”Leclerc commented after his second post of the season.

During the inaugural GP in Bahrain in mid -March, Leclerc who had taken the pole, before winning the race the next day against Verstappen, was forced to retire due to a breakdown a few laps from the end.

But the Dutchman responded two weeks later in Saudi Arabia, earning his first win of the season despite averaging 4th place in qualifying.

Leclerc (45 pts) is currently leading by twelve points over his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. (33) who will start 9th on Sunday and 20th against Verstappen (25).

Scuderia on Australian soil signed its first pole position since 2007, during the time of Kimi Räikönen, the retired Finn who now offered, that year, a Ferrari driver’s final world championship title in F1.

In competition, the sensations weren’t there for Red Bull drivers: faced with problems with the overall balance of his single-seater, Verstappen admits living in a horrible weekend until now.

Obviously we haven’t really solved the problem, even in qualifying. We struggled a lot with the balance of the vehicle and it didn’t give us confidence going forward. explanation of the pilot.

For his teammate, the tires became the problem: I don’t really feel like I know which approach is the smartest, I think (they) are very sensitive commented Pérez.

As for Charles Leclerc, despite the problems at Red Bull, he hopes a very close race tomorrow (Sunday).

After a difficult start to the season for McLaren, the British team looks set to rise again: Briton Lando Norris will start from fourth position on the grid, next to Pérez, and stage regional Daniel Ricciardo will go a little further, in 7th place.

On the side of Mercedes, the defending champion of constructors but with difficulty since the start of the season, for some reason (aerodynamics, engine), Lewis Hamilton will start in the third row (5th), just next to his teammate George Russell (6th).

If Hamilton is better than the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the end of March (16th in qualifying), we have no progress he assured at the end of this session. We haven’t changed the car yet. has regretted being the seven -time world champion after free practice on Friday.

Behind Mercedes, Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) will start in 8th and 11th place respectively.

On the Alpine other, Fernando Alonso, very fast in free practice and a possible candidate for pole position, lost control of his single-seater in Q3, due to the sudden loss of his hydraulic system. He will start on Sunday from 10th place.

Lance Stroll was punished

Qualification was also marked by a clash between Canadian single-seater Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi in the early stages of qualifying (Q1).

Latifi’s Aston Martin’s Stroll and Williams collided when they were not on the flying lap, and the two drivers had to stop their session there, resulting in a neutralization of several minutes.

The walker, who was deemed responsible for the collision, received a penalty of three places on the grid. It had no effect because the Canadian was late, no time because of this collision.