The Briton's latest victory, in a Tuscan Grand Prix that was twice red-flagged and re-started, left him one shy of the Ferrari great -- a record once held up as a milestone to withstand the test of time.
The German driver joined Mercedes from Williams in 2010 and has won 19 Grands Prix for the team, including five this year. He has helped Mercedes to the manufacturers' title for the last two seasons.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton stormed to his third successive pole position of the season, and third in a row in China, after edging team-mate Nico Rosberg in a front-row lockout for Mercedes on Saturday.
Lando Norris roared to his second successive pole position, and third in four races, in a McLaren front row sweep with team mate Oscar Piastri
Leclerc was 11 seconds clear with seven laps to go and 8.3 ahead with five remaining as the massed ranks of 'tifosi' willed him on.
Lewis Hamilton believes his Mercedes Formula One team can live up to their advance billing as favourites when the season starts in Australia next week.
The pole was the Finn's second in a row, after Brazil two weeks ago, and fourth of the campaign. Hamilton had been aiming for his 12th of the year.
Lando Norris put McLaren on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton produced a moment of Montreal magic on Saturday to put his Mercedes on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix and equal Ayrton Senna's career haul of 65.
Verstappen took pole position for the Saudi Arabian Formula One Grand Prix on Friday with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualifying alongside on the front row.
Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen lifted himself into a league of his own as he beat title rival Lewis Hamilton to pole position with a blinding lap in qualifying for the French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian Grand Prix in a stunning McLaren one-two with Lando Norris at Monza on Sunday.
Max Verstappen, who could seal his fourth successive championship on Saturday, will line up fifth on the starting grid
Hamilton decided to take matters into his own hands and pass several cars ahead of him, without gaining anything as Verstappen's time stood the test.
Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix on Sunday and slashed Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's Formula One lead to four points after the German retired for the first time this season.
A teary George Russell celebrated the first Formula One Grand Prix victory of his career in Brazil on Sunday in a one-two finish with Mercedes team mate and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Lewis Hamilton seized pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday in a damp qualifying session that saw both the Formula One world champion and his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg skid off on their final laps.
Finland's Valtteri Bottas kept champions Mercedes on pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday after title-chasing team mate Lewis Hamilton was hit with a five-place grid penalty.
Lewis Hamilton feels he faces "pretty impossible odds" going into Formula One's Abu Dhabi title-decider while Mercedes team mate and rival Nico Rosberg says he will treat Sunday's race like any other. Both are being disingenuous, of course. Hamilton knows he still has a real chance and Rosberg is well aware just how much is at stake. While Rosberg is the favourite to win the 'Duel in the Desert', needing only to finish on the Yas Marina podium to become Germany's third world champion after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, he will still be on tenterhooks.
Verstappen, who had started alongside Norris on the front row, was leading by lap three and could then build a buffer and take control.
Bottas said he was already looking forward to next season despite the fact there are still two races left on the current calendar.
The four-time world champion's fifth win of the season for Mercedes left him on 213 points to 189 for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, and relishing the prospect of a stress-free family holiday.
McLaren's Lando Norris swept to victory in a wet and wild Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, holding off defending champion Max Verstappen in a white-knuckle finish to a Formula One season-opener littered with crashes and safety cars.
Argentina's World Cup winning captain Lionel Messi was named the Laureus Sportsman of the Year, while sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce bagged the top women's honour.
Alonso said he had huge respect for Hamilton and had no problems with him.
The final phase of qualifying was halted, with only Piastri and Haas' Nico Hulkenberg having set times, when Sainz slammed backwards into the barriers at the final corner as he prepared to start his flying lap.
