The Ferrari driver's best time of one minute 16.231 seconds was close to the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix pole time by Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes.
Max Verstappen became the first Formula One driver to take 16 victories in a season
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the penultimate race on this year's Formula One calendar
Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified comfortably faster but dropped five places for a gearbox change.
Charles Leclerc crashed at the end of qualifying for his home Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday to cut Max Verstappen's overall Formula One lead to eight points with two races remaining.
"I'm just extremely grateful that I'm here, and tonight I'm going to call my family and all my loved ones. I passed two metres from that crane. If, I had been two metres to the left, I would have been dead."
Max Verstappen won his home Dutch Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday and took the Formula One championship lead in front of a roaring, dancing army of fans hailing their hero with orange flags and flares.
Formula One will have a record 24 races in the season that starts in Bahrain on Saturday.
In the constructors' standings, Red Bull have 511 points to Ferrari's 376.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will line up alongside on the front row after a final qualifying session that ended with Verstappen's Mexican team mate Sergio Perez crashing at the final corner.
Charles Leclerc seized the first pole position of his Formula One career on Saturday with Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel second fastest to lock out the front row for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position to stretch his Formula One championship lead to 53 points.
Leclerc had seized the lead at the start, and held it through an initial safety car period, before Verstappen made up for his poor getaway and passed the Monegasque -- whose tyres were fading fast -- with a late move around the outside.
The team, who became Force India in 2008 after Indian beer baron Vijay Mallya bought Spyker F1, were taken over in August by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll after going into administration.
The victory on a hot afternoon at Le Castellet was Verstappen's seventh of the season and 27th of his career.
Sergio Perez beat teammate and championship leader Max Verstappen to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday and continue Red Bull's Formula One domination with a double success in Baku.
Lewis Hamilton is now just three wins short of Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's all-time record 91.
Max Verstappen dashed Ferrari's home hopes and won the Italian Grand Prix
Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for Formula One's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row for Mercedes.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a chaotic and crash-halted Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday with Lewis Hamilton second for Mercedes and retaining the lead in the championship by a single point.
Formula One championship leader Charles Leclerc took pole position for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz in a front row lockout in qualifying on Saturday.
Renault's Chinese test driver Guanyu Zhou won a virtual Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday as Formula One sought to entertain fans with esports action in a season stalled by the spreading coronavirus. The first seven rounds of the real championship have been cancelled or postponed, including the showcase Monaco Grand Prix, and it remains to be seen how many there will be ultimately.
Verstappen goes into the Formula One record books as the pole setter for the weekend, however, regardless of where he starts on Sunday.
Charles Leclerc took pole position for Ferrari in crash-laden qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday, pipping Red Bull's World champion Max Verstappen on the upgraded Albert Park circuit.
Verstappen led from start to finish at Austria's Red Bull Ring, with seven-time world champion Hamilton second for Mercedes.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday after a furious Max Verstappen was forced to abandon his fastest lap for fear of running out of fuel.
Max Verstappen led a soggy Monaco Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday
Lewis Hamilton took his 98th career pole position in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday
Hamilton's 98th career victory, from his 100th pole position, was his third win in four races
England cricketer Ben Stokes will test his driving skills against five Formula One drivers, including Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, in the sport's second virtual Grand Prix this weekend. The World Cup winning all-rounder will team up with Thai racer Alexander Albon in the Red Bull line-up for his first esports competition.
Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix in a Red Bull one-two on Sunday
Sergio Perez won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from pole position in a Red Bull one-two on Sunday with Max Verstappen staying top of the championship after racing from 15th to second.
The blue and papaya orange MCL34 car was unveiled by 34 team employees at the former champions' Woking headquarters before Sainz and 19-year-old British rookie team mate Lando Norris stepped up to admire it.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz claimed his first Formula One victory on Sunday in a thrilling British Grand Prix halted by a first-lap crash and with the added mayhem of a track invasion by protesters.
Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix with Alpine's Fernando Alonso leaping onto the front row alongside the Formula One championship leader in a wet qualifying on Saturday.
Formula One esports race was the third in a series designed to give fans something to watch after the COVID-19 pandemic stalled motorsport worldwide and left Formula One still waiting to start its season.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claimed pole position at the end of Qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claimed his second win of the Formula One season with a thumping, pole-to-flag victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday as Red Bull's world champion Max Verstappen suffered "deja vu" with another retirement.
Team boss Christian Horner said Verstappen's lap of one minute 22.109 seconds was one of his best of the year and the Dutch driver sounded remarkably relaxed given the amount of pressure on him.
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