‘Never say never’ – Lewis Hamilton aims to ‘give it everything’ for a Ferrari pole on debut in Australia

With so many potential rivals, Leclerc refused to stake an early claim to the foremost grid slot.

“I want to be cautious; let’s wait and see,” he said. “But it’s right to say that after a day like this, we are looking forward to tomorrow and we want to target pole position.”

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Asked if McLaren posed the only threat to Ferrari this weekend, Leclerc added: “For now, it is too early to say. I don’t think we’ve seen the real pace of everybody yet and I think some teams might hide their game a bit more than others.

“But for sure, McLaren is up there. I think Red Bull might be struggling a little bit more for now, but you never know with them, and especially with Max, you can never rule them out. For sure, they will be in the fight.

“Mercedes look strong as well, so it is going to be a good fight, I’m sure.”