Leclerc on F-1 pole for Aussie 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 1 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.
Leclerc, whose teammate Carlos Sainz qualified ninth, said he had never felt entirely comfortable on the circuit in previous visits.
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.
INDYCAR SERIES
Jimmie Johnson pulled one glove over the carbon fiber splint built specifically for his broken right hand.
A piece of tape around two fingers outside of the glove was to prevent him from using his pinky — the digit closest to the fracture — as he drove his car around the downtown streets of Long Beach in California.
But what was supposed to be a Saturday morning test to determine Johnson’s fitness a day after he was injured ended in another crash, another trip to the medical center and another set of X-rays.
“I had no pain on track, I felt great, just trying to go too fast into Turn 1 and locked the tires and got wide,” Johnson said outside the medical center.
Johnson said he’s good to go for Sunday at Long Beach, the IndyCar stop considered his home race. He grew up two hours away in El Cajon, so Long Beach was an annual childhood family trip, and Johnson rented a suite for 40 friends to watch him make his second career IndyCar start at Long Beach.
It’s been a whirlwind weekend, though, for Johnson.
He arrived in Long Beach coming off an IndyCar career-best sixthplace finish in his oval debut at Texas Motor Speedway — a performance that suddenly vaulted the seven-time NASCAR champion into the Indianapolis 500 contender conversation.