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.
McLaren's Lando Norris took a commanding Dutch Grand Prix victory on Sunday.
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.
Australian Oscar Piastri roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris on Sunday.
It was the first time in seven races that Ferrari had failed to get at least one of their cars into the top 10.
IMAGES from the Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix held at Baku City Circuit on Sunday
Max Verstappen won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix from pole position for Red Bull on Sunday.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrated his 50th Formula One race with a pole-to-flag win in Bahrain on Sunday that sent him second overall.
Red Bull dropped Daniil Kvyat to sister team Toro Rosso following his disastrous weekend at the Russian Grand Prix and promoted Max Verstappen as his replacement ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrated pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, his 50th Formula One race, while dejected championship-leading teammate Lando Norris qualified sixth and said he had been "clueless on track".
Verstappen goes into the Formula One record books as the pole setter for the weekend, however, regardless of where he starts on Sunday.
Hamilton held on for fourth, but slipped from 18 to 32 points behind Verstappen in the championship standings.
Lando Norris put Formula One champions McLaren on pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix in track-record time on Saturday, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc alongside on the front row for his home race.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified comfortably faster but dropped five places for a gearbox change.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris topped the times for McLaren as four red flags, two caused by trackside grass fires, wreaked havoc with the second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton smashed the Shanghai circuit lap record on his way to a stunning first sprint race pole for Ferrari in China on Friday.
Verstappen leads seven times world champion Hamilton by six points with six races remaining and the pole at Austin's Circuit of the Americas was the ninth of the season for the Dutch 24-year-old -- and eighth in the last 11 races.
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix
Dutch Formula One driver Max Verstappen collected two special awards for the second year in a row at the International Automobile Federation (FIA)'s gala prize-giving ceremony on Friday.
Red Bull are concerned about their constructors' title defence being weakened at a time when McLaren are emerging as a threat
Stewards at the Brazilian race summoned Leclerc on Friday, acting on a report from the governing FIA's media delegate and after reviewing a written transcript.
'Tomorrow's going to be a challenge, I've never driven this car in the rain.'
Yuki Tsunoda will race for Red Bull from his home Japanese Formula One Grand Prix next week with struggling New Zealander Liam Lawson demoted to sister team Racing Bulls in a straight swap.
Max Verstappen was compared to Formula One greats Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher on Sunday after the Dutch teenager's sensational drive to third place in a wet and chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix. Even father and former racer Jos, the 19-year-old Red Bull driver's biggest fan and fiercest critic, was astonished. "What Max showed here today was really special," he said of a race likely to go down in the sport's annals as one for the ages. In the last 15 laps, after a change to extreme wet tyres, Verstappen passed more than half the starting grid as he went from 16th place to the podium.
Carlos Sainz completed a double race distance for previously struggling Williams and pushed his Ferrari successor Lewis Hamilton off the top of the testing
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday without racing even a single lap as half-points were awarded for only the sixth time in Formula One history.
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.
Factbox on Dutch driver Max Verstappen, who became Formula One's youngest race winner, aged 18, at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
Dutch rookie Max Verstappen, signed controversially as a 16-year-old by Toro Rosso, has swept a hat-trick of awards after confounding his critics in an impressive debut Formula One season.
Verstappen took his 26th career win 0.9 of a second ahead of Spaniard Sainz,
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday to become the first home winner
Red Bull's double World champion Max Verstappen swept to pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Saturday with his sights set on a record 14th victory of the season.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won Formula One's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday to end Mercedes' run of domination and become champion Lewis Hamilton's closest challenger.
Max Verstappen celebrated his 21st birthday in style on Sunday with the Red Bull driver carving from the back of the Russian Grand Prix grid to first in the space of 19 laps.
Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix in a Red Bull one-two on Sunday
Dutch driver Max Verstappen has extended his contract with Red Bull until the end of 2023, the Formula One team announced in a statement on Tuesday. The Dutchman, who in 2016 became the youngest ever race winner in the sport's history, had been linked to both Ferrari and Mercedes in paddock speculation.
Lando Norris won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday to deliver McLaren's first Formula One constructors' title since 1998
Red Bull closed the gap to champions Mercedes in the constructors' standings to one point.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen says he has learned from his Monaco Grand Prix crash, with the first lesson being to stay away from walls and barriers.
Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas finished third, ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, in a race aimed at providing more thrills for fans over the three days of track action and potentially shaking up the starting grid.
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