Michael Lamonato joined the show from Albert Park to preview the Australian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc dominated the Australian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen retired with another apparent power unit problem.

The poleman was cleanly away from the grid and kept Verstappen at bay in the early laps, but it soon became clear the Dutchman was struggling. He reported severe graining on his left-front medium tire and locked up several times in the tricky final sector, dropping a lot of time to the leading Ferrari.

Things only got worse from there. Having made no inroads during the pit stops, Verstappen’s car lost power down the front straight on lap 38, forcing him to park by the side of the road and retire from the race.

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Charles Leclerc will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole position after beating Max Verstappen to top spot in an unpredictable qualifying session.

Verstappen had seized the momentum in the disrupted final segment, which had been red flagged halfway through for a Fernando Alonso smash, and held provisional pole when the checkered flag fell. But Leclerc was last on the road and purple first and last sectors blew away Verstappen’s best time to take pole by a comfortable 0.286s.

“It felt good,” he said. “This weekend we really worked hard.”

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Lando Norris took a shock P1 in Friday practice for McLaren, ending Ferrari’s stranglehold on Albert Park ahead of qualifying.

Norris’ hot lap couldn’t be beaten after Lance Stroll understeered into the barrier on the outside of Turn 11 and broke his front wing and left-front corner, causing a red flag and ending the session with less than five minutes still to run.

It compounded a difficult day at an increasingly painful weekend for Aston Martin. Sebastian Vettel also crashed just 20 minutes into the hour, losing control of his car through the fast Turn 9-10 at around 160mph. He skidded sideways through the gravel on the far side of the track, making heavy contact with the barriers and ripping off his right-front wheel.

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Mercedes is in need of a steadying weekend at the Australian Grand Prix after a humbling first two rounds of the 2022 season.