Formula 1: Ferrari's Charles Leclerc beats Max Verstappen to take Australian GP pole

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took the first Australian Grand Prix pole position since 2019 with a blistering performance at Albert Park - with Red Bull's Max Verstappen lining up second on the grid for Sunday's race.

Sergio Perez qualified third but the Mexican driver was due to visit the stewards after the session to discuss a possible yellow flag infringement during Q2.

The new layout relinquished a DRS zone ahead of FP3 - that session led by Lando Norris - on Saturday, with final practice seeing both Aston Martins crash and numerous drivers go off-track.

Verstappen topped Q1 and Red Bull team mate Perez led Q2 but Ferrari regrouped and it was Leclerc who aced the top 10 shootout with a time of 1m 17.868s to keep Verstappen 0.286s at bay in P2.

Perez finished third by 0.372s while Lando Norris made use of his first Q3 appearance of the season in P4 - his team mate Daniel Ricciardo starting seventh at home.

In between the McLarens was Lewis Hamilton in P5 and George Russell in P6 - and behind Ricciardo was Esteban Ocon in P8.

Carlos Sainz was a shock P9 for Ferrari, 1.540s off his team mate in Q3. Fernando Alonso crashed out in Q3, a suspected hydraulics issue ending his sterling run, and lines up a provisional P10 for Alpine.

( With inputs from ANI )