Ferrari driver breaks Hamilton\u2019s stranglehold on the Melbourne grid
\n MELBOURNE
\nFerrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc claimed pole on Saturday for the Australian Grand Prix ahead of title rival Max Verstappen \u2013 and broke Lewis Hamilton\u2019s stranglehold on the Melbourne grid.
\nVerstappen\u2019s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez is on the second row after coming in third ahead of McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris.
\nMercedes\u2019 Hamilton, who has been the pole-sitter eight times in Melbourne, including the last six in a row at Albert Park, will start an encouraging fifth.
\nIt is a second pole of the year for Monaco\u2019s Leclerc after the season-opening race in Bahrain, where he went on to win.
\nHe knocked out his rivals with a flying lap at the death of one minute 17.868, fractionally ahead of Red Bull\u2019s world champion Verstappen, who won in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago.
\nThis was more evidence ahead of Sunday\u2019s third race of the campaign that they are the two to beat this season.
\n\u201cIt felt good, even more because it\u2019s a track where I\u2019ve always struggled in the past, in Q3 I managed to put everything together so it feels great, very happy,\u201d said the 24-year-old Leclerc.
\n\u201cThe car is nice to drive, everything is possible tomorrow. We need a good start.\u201d
\nVerstappen had complained of oversteer and balance problems in the final practice ahead of qualifying and the Dutchman said he was still struggling despite being second-fastest.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t really feel good in the car all weekend. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s been one lap where I\u2019ve felt good in the car,\u201d said Verstappen, also 24.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll try to analyse it. This weekend has been all over the place. Happy to be second, but as a team we want more.\u201d
\nWhile Mercedes\u2019 speed is improving, it still has problems with porpoising \u2013 bouncing too much at speed. But fifth was a major improvement for Hamilton, who only qualified 16th in Jeddah. His team-mate George Russell was sixth on Saturday.
\n\u201cCompared to yesterday and to the last race, today was a good day for me,\u201d said Britain\u2019s Hamilton.
\n\u201cI almost got P4, which would have been cool, but we\u2019ll be fighting for that position tomorrow.\u201d
\nIn a morale-boost, both McLarens made the third part of qualifying for the first time this season with Daniel Ricciardo coming seventh. Esteban Ocon in an Alpine was eighth and Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari ninth.
\nVeteran Fernando Alonso, who has been quick all weekend in the Alpine, had to settle for 10th after crashing at Turn 11, saying on the radio he couldn\u2019t shift down gears.
\nIt was a dismal day for four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who sent his Aston Martin into a wall at high speed in the final practice and managed just three laps in qualifying.
\nHe finished 18th to cap a miserable time for the German, who missed the opening two races of the year with Covid, suffered engine failure on Friday and was fined 5,000 euros (US$5,437) after riding a moped on the track.
\nHis team-mate Lance Stroll also endured a tough day. After crashing in third practice, his crew patched up the car and got him out with four minutes left of Q1.
\nBut before he completed a lap, Nicholas Latifi careered into him, leaving debris from the Canadian\u2019s Williams strewn on the track.
\n\u201cHe just hit me man,\u201d Stroll said in an expletive-laden radio message, with Latifi responding: \u201cI don\u2019t understand what he was doing, he wasn\u2019t looking in his mirrors. Car\u2019s destroyed.\u201d
\nPerez topped Q2 from Sainz and Leclerc with Valtteri Bottas, the 2019 Melbourne winner, a casualty in his Alfa Romeo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ferrari driver breaks Hamilton\u2019s stranglehold on the Melbourne grid MELBOURNE Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc claimed pole on Saturday for the Australian Grand Prix ahead of title rival Max Verstappen \u2013 and broke Lewis Hamilton\u2019s stranglehold on the Melbourne grid. Verstappen\u2019s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez is on the second row after coming in third ahead of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-253959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n