Leclerc left guessing by poor visibility in qualifying

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc overcame major problems with visibility in the setting sun in Melbourne to pull off a decisive final flying lap in Saturday's qualifying session that clinched pole position for the Australian Grand Prix.

Leclerc had only been third fastest in both Q1 and Q2 and seemed set to be pipped to the top spot by Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the final minutes of the final top ten pole shoot-out round.

But the Monegasque pulled off an impressive final flier to record a time of 1:17.868s that put him almost three tenths of a second clear, a margin that surprised even him.

• Read also: Leclerc takes pole in Australia after disrupted qualifying

"It felt good - even more because it's a track where I've always struggled in the past as a driver," he told the media in parc ferme immediately after the end of the session. "I'm very happy to be starting on pole tomorrow!"

Because of the coronavirus pandemic forcing the race off the calendar in 2020 and 2021, Leclerc has only raced in Melbourne on two previous occasions.

He qualified 18th here in his rookie season with Sauber and was fifth in 2019 after moving to Ferrari.

In fact no one except Lewis Hamilton has been on pole for the race since 2013, when Sebastian Vettel claimed the honours for Red Bull. Ferrari's last Australian pole was back in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen.

"This weekend we really worked hard," Leclerc said. "It was a bit messy for the three free practices session for me. I managed to do some good laps but not [able to bring] everything together."

A big problem for all the drivers was the low setting sun, with Leclerc among a number of drivers to call for a replacement helmet with a dark visor tint for the final round.

"Honestly, in Q2 my first lap I took a lot of risks there because I had no idea where the limit of the track was," he told the post-qualifying press conference.

"You are just guessing a little bit and it's just with the rhythm of the weekend you know more or less that you need to turn 'here'," he continued. "But I really had zero idea where the limit of the track was and it was very tricky.

"We went for a darker visor. I think the first run in Q3 there was some clouds around, so that was perfect," he said. "[Even so, visibility] for the last run in Q3 braking for Turn 1 was still very, very bad.

"It was definitely extremely tricky and the last sector also on the last Q3 lap I lost a little bit, just because it was very difficult to see where I was.

"I don't think there was anything else we could do anything. Even with the darkest visor it's still not enough and it would be took dark for the rest of the track where there were clouds.

"It's just a compromise that we have to find but it's the same for everyone at the end," he added. "I managed to put everything together so it feels great.

Leclerc had taken the first pole of the season in Bahrain and went on to win the race, but was beaten to the top spot in Saudi Arabia and then lost out on victory to Verstappen.

It looks set to be another close run affair again this weekend, with the pair sharing the front row of the grid setting up another drag race into the first corner to decide the early leader.

Leclerc admitted it was probably too close to call. "To be honest we were quite surprised by our pace in qualifying, so everything is possible tomorrow.

"The car is nice to drive but the Red Bulls were very quick in FP2 during the long fuel run," he said. "We just need to do a good start and then hopefully we can keep that first position."

Perez will start immediately behind Leclerc from the second row alongside a surprisingly strong showing from McLaren's Lando Norris.

But Leclerc's team mate Carlos Sainz was caught out badly in the final minutes of Q3 following a red flag stoppage for a heavy crash involving Alpine's Fernando Alonso.

Sainz will now start out of position in ninth place and will spend the opening laps righting his way back to join Leclerc at the front as quickly as possible.

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