Leclerc claimed h🧜is s🏅econd Formula 1 pole position of the year with another impressive lap to eclipse Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez at Albert Park.

Leclerc’s advantage at the end of Q3 was nearly 0.3s over Verstappen bꦕut that doesn’t tell the full story.

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While Leclerc produced a stunning lap, Verstappen made a mistake on his first Q3 effort at the penultimate corner, which according to Red Bull team principal𝓡 Christian Horner, would have got close to the Leclerc’s eventual pole time.

The battle at the front looks finely poised with Leclerc and V🌳erstappen set to go head-to-head for the third time in 20♉22.

Advantage Max Verstappen?

The reigning F1 champion once again missed out on pole position after making a crucial mistak🌊e on his first Q3 effort.

Even without it, Leclerc’s eventual pole ti𝕴me looked to be untouchable as the Ferrari driver continues to prove his title credentials. 

Verstappen has struggled slightly in qualifying this season with the handling of the Red Bull RB18 not to his liking, as he admitted after qualifying at Albert 🔜Park.

“I would have hoped to start first but we have to accept ꦜwhere we finished,” Verstappen said. 💎“[The car] has been a bit tricky for me, all over the place, and I’ve never found a stable grip at the front or rear.

“But that’s been the case for the whole year, I’ve never really found a balance where I can fully attack all the corners, especially in qualifying. It’s been tough, We have a lot more potential in the car than ꩲwe are showing and that’s a shame.”

Verstappen was more downbeat than usual after qualifying but the Dutchman is still in a good place to take hꦑis second victory of the year. 

Red Bull has once again opted for a low downforce philosophy with Verstappen and Perez lightning quick on t🐼he straights𝕴, giving it a crucial advantage in wheel-to-wheel combat.

The Milton-Keynes outfit w𝕴as once again impressive in the race runs in FP2, potentially putti𒐪ng the advantage in Red Bull’s corner.

Another point to consi🐓der is Red Bull will have two cars in the mix, as oppoꦬsed to Ferrari with just one after Carlos Sainz could only qualify ninth.

This will give Red Bull crucial strategic options to overcome Leclerc 🌱on race day, should either Verstappen or Perez be unable to get ahead on the opening lap.

The fight at the front will lik♋e🌠ly come down to the final few laps once again.

Will McLaren hold onto ‘best of the rest?'

After a torrid start to the season, McLaren enjoyed its best quali🍨fying performance of the season with Lando Norris securing fourth ahead of Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Teamm🐼ate Daniel Ricciardo made it two McLarens in tꦡhe top seven as it looks to refind its form from the last two years.

Despite not making too many changes to its car, the high-speed nature of Albert Park appears to be suiting McLaren’s 2022 package, w🌺ith its deficiencies coming in low-speed corners.

Norris continues to be one of F1’s most impressive performers but after qualifying, he conceded that keeping Mercedes behin🍷d will be tricky given that it usually has a race pace advantage. 

“I look forward to it,” Norris said. “I thin🔯k we can have some good racing and hopefully we can race them more often. Normally the race pace of the Mercs is also very strong and tends to be a bit stronger than ours. 

“We wi💜ll 🐟see what we can do but we have a good pace, better pace than we expected today so we will see what we can do tomorrow.”

Besides the two Mercedes drivers, Norris ꦕwill have to contend with Sainz𝔉 and a fast-charging Fernando Alonso.

Watch out for Fernando Alonso

Alonso was producing some of the best laps of hi💮s recent F1 career ♔up until his unfortunate hydraulic issue at the start of Q3.

Alonso wen✃t quickest in the middle sector on his first run in Q3 - 0.2s faster than Leclerc’s provꦓisional pole time - and was on course to challenge for pole position.

While it’s likely Alonso would have missed out on pole, a top five starting position was on the ca♒rds with Alpine’s clear progress since pre-season testing shown by the Sp𓄧aniard’s form at Albert Park. 

After the time of writing, the two-time champion is set to start from 10th🍰 on the grid but with a fast Alpine package behind him, and Alonso often saving his best for race day, watch out for him on race day.

mahbx.com’s prediction

Red Bull’s superior race pace advantage combined with having t🅠wo cars in the fight against one should give Verst🐓appen the advantage over Leclerc.

We’re tipping Verstappen to take his first-ever victory at Albert Park with Leclerc finishing in the top two for th🦋e third consecutive race.

Perez will complete the top three, scoring his first career p⛎odium in Mel🤡bourne.

Third: Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

Second: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

Winner: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)