Leclerc grabs pole as Verstappen hits trouble

The Ferrari driver had it all to do in the last part of qualifying after spinning at the penultimate corner during his banker lap in Q3 but then the points leader stunned on his second attempt.

A run to 1m18.750s marked comfortably the fastest lap of the weekend as he seized his 13th F1 pole position by three tenths over his ground-effect title rival Verstappen.

The defending champion, who held provisional pole after his first Q3 effort, was forced to abort his final flying lap after his Red Bull endured yet more unreliability and died at Turn 3.

Comfortable Q2 pacesetter Verstappen had not long delivered a crushing run through the final sector to extract a four tenth advantage on his first flying lap in the final part of qualifying to post a 1m19.073s.

That threw him to the top of the timing screens as he ran a mighty 0.35s ahead of provisional pacesetter Sainz, while Perez clocked third ahead of the Mercedes pair.

Leclerc was the major name missing from the top of the times after he threw away his first Q3 lap with a Turn 14 spin despite setting five session-best mini-sectors over the lap.

The rear axle of the Ferrari rotated into the left-handed part of the tight chicane when, like in Imola, he grabbed too much kerb. He then locked all four tyres bringing the car to a stop.

Leclerc was equipped with a fresh set of soft tyres and headed out comparatively early for the qualifying climax, leaving his garage with three and a half minutes left to play.

But he stitched together the fastest second and third sector to romp to pole.

After the power cut, Verstappen was eventually able to restart his car, and his first go proved enough to complete the front row ahead of Sainz, who fell a tenth adrift with his 1m19.166s.

George Russell led the renewed effort from Mercedes with fourth place as he nipped ahead of Sergio Perez, while Lewis Hamilton ran to sixth after his first Q3 lap was hurt by oversteer out of the final corner.

Valtteri Bottas snared seventh for Alfa…