Australian Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc takes pole for Ferrari in Melbourne

Charles Leclerc sealed pole position for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday in Melbourne, with him set to start ahead of his Red Bull rival Max Verstappen.

Formula 1 hasn’t raced at Albert Park since 2019 but we look nicely set-up for an entertaining return to the circuit tomorrow, with three of the early potential title contenders in the top three and the likes of a resurgent Lando Norris in just behind.

It was a red flag-strewn qualifying session Down Under, too, and this is how it all played out…

Aston Martin are having a weekend to forget and that continued on Saturday. Sebastian Vettel saw limiting heavily reduced on Friday thanks to a mechanical fault and then in Saturday practice both he and Lance Stroll picked up damage in incidents.

Stroll’s car would be repaired with enough time for him to head out in qualifying, but then he and Nicholas Latifi in the Williams would have a totally unnecessary collision, sending both out of Q1.

The red flag that followed gave Aston time to get Vettel’s car ready for a late run but he couldn’t post a quick enough time and he’d join the two Canadians, Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen in being eliminated at the first hurdle: