Leclerc’s Ferrari takes grid top spot
FERRARI’S Charles Leclerc has taken pole position for the Australian Grand Prix today.
Formula One championship leader Leclerc topped yesterday’s qualifying at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo will start from seventh on the grid.
Ricciardo clocked a best lap of 1 minute 19.032 seconds with
Leclerc setting the pace with a fastest lap of 1:17.868. Red Bull duo Max Verstappen (1:18.154) and Sergio Perez (1:18.240) were next best, followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
The qualifying period slated for 60 minutes ultimately lasted one hour and 34 minutes after two crashes paused racing. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso hit a wall during the final 10-minute qualifying period, citing a hydraulics problem. And Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi crashed with 2 minutes remaining in the initial 20-minute period after tangling with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Both drivers blamed each other. ‘‘Latifi, man . . . what is he doing, he just drove straight into me,’’ Stroll told his team radio.
But Latifi told his team: ‘‘He (Stroll) wasn’t looking in his mirrors . . . the car is destroyed.’’
While Williams and Aston Martin mechanics will work into the night on repairs, Ferrari have no such problems after Leclerc claimed top billing and teammate Carlos Sainz ninth. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who took pole in the past six Australian races, qualified fifth-fastest.
Monaco-born Leclerc won the season-opening grand prix in Bahrain and finished second behind Verstappen in Saudi Arabia. Sainz ensured Ferrari claimed double-podiums in the
initial two races with a second in Bahrain and third in Saudi Arabia.
Ricciardo said he was confident going into the race despite saving his worst for the final lap of qualifying.
The McLaren star was eyeing a top-four grid position heading into the dying stages qualifying at Albert Park but a disappointing finish saw Ricciardo tumble down the rankings as the session went longer than expected.
Ricciardo, in his second season with McLaren, is tempering his hopes of improvement in Melbourne, but a quiet confidence is building in him. However, he was not shying away from a dire conclusion to qualifying where three drivers, including Mercedes superstar Lewis Hamilton, pipped his best time.
‘‘It’s been a good weekend . . . but I’m a little bit frustrated because probably my worst lap for the weekend was my last one,’’ Ricciardo said. ‘‘It just started in turn one, and I felt like I was close to going off the track probably three times in that last lap.
‘‘I’m not really sure what we missed there, something was a little bit off. A shame in that situation when it counts not to put it there. It’s late and the visibility was tricky so we’ll analyse the last lap and prepare for the race.’’
Ricciardo spent more than a week in his home city of Perth after failing to finish the Saudi
Arabian GP. That Jeddah race followed a 14th place in the season-opener in Bahrain as McLaren battle teething problems in their cars.
Ricciardo has experienced mixed fortunes at his home grand prix, with fourth his best result in 2016 and 2018 when racing for Red Bull. In the last race at Albert Park back in 2019, he suffered an early calamity and was later forced to retire.