Leclerc narrowly edges Verstappen to take pole position for F1 Australian Grand Prix

A Ferrari versus Red Bull battle is shaping up as the likely scenario on Sunday at the first Australian Grand Prix since the pandemic began in 2020.

Charles Leclerc claimed Ferrari's first pole position at the revamped Albert Park circuit since 2007 with a decisive final lap of one minute, 17.868 seconds in Melbourne on Saturday.

But running close behind were the Red Bulls of world champion Max Verstappen, who qualified .286 seconds behind, and Sergio Perez, who posted the third quickest time.

Leclerc and Verstappen have shared the opening two races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and will now start alongside each other on the front row.

This continued through practice sessions on Friday and Saturday. But in front of a record Saturday crowd of 123,247, he gambled by asking his Ferrari for more in what was a dashing last lap as he took his second pole position of the season and the 11th of his career.

"It was a good lap. This time I took quite a big risk, especially on Turn 6, which was quite tricky," Leclerc said. "I am very happy with the lap, especially on a track like this where I have always struggled in the past, and also through practices, even though we were competitive."

However, neither Leclerc nor Verstappen expressed great confidence after qualifying, with the Ferrari driver predicting a tight race.

"I think we are very close with Red Bull. It is going to be close tomorrow," Leclerc said.

Verstappen set the challenge for Leclerc late in Q3. But he was far from happy with the way his Red Bull had performed, saying it was a struggle.

"It has been terrible for me the whole weekend. It is just not a good balance," he said. "I have spent the whole weekend chasing something and I never felt comfortable for