F1 qualifying LIVE: Australian Grand Prix results as Charles Leclerc takes pole

LIVE – Updated at 08:48

Charles Leclerc took a dramatic pole position at the Australian Grand Prix, his second pole of the season

Leclerc leads the drivers’ standings after two races, with victory at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix followed by a second-place finish behind reigning world champion Max Verstappen in Saudi Arabia and the Ferrari driver is now well positioned to extend that advantage at Melbourne’s Albert Park street circuit.

Verstappen took second place in qualifying behind his rival, with the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez in third, Lando Norris an impressive fourth in the McLaren and Lewis Hamilton in fifth - out-qualifying his Mercedes teammate George Russell. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz is down in ninth.

There were multiple crashes during qualifying with Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll coming together to cause a red flag in Q1 and Fernando Alonso’s Alpine heading into the barrier, which led to another stoppage and delay in Q3.

Follow all the latest reaction from qualifying below:

Sergio Perez looked like the fastest man on track for the majority of that qualifying session, but will have to make do with a third-place start on the grid for tomorrow's race after falling behind team-mate Max Verstappen and pole-sitter Charles Leclerc come the chequered flag.

The Red Bull man’s priority is for fans to enjoy the first race to place at Albert Park since 2019, due to Covid-19 protocols.

“Things were going good,” the Mexican explained. “It’s always hard to keep the momentum going with all the red flags. P3 is satisfying to start tomorrow. We have got a nice race ahead of us and first of all I hope we make a lot of Aussies happy tomorrow. Full grandstands so let’s give them a nice race tomorrow.”

Mav