Team mate Sebastian Vettel was second fastest to complete the front-row sweep, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.
Hamilton's flying lap of one minute 22.188 seconds set a new record at Albert Park but was only 0.268 seconds in front of German Vettel, offering the tantalising prospect of a competitive championship after three years of domination by the Silver Arrows.
Lewis Hamilton was made to wait for his fifth Formula One world championship, on Sunday, after the Mercedes driver finished only third in a US Grand Prix won by Ferrari veteran Kimi Raikkonen.
The race has been won from pole eight times out of 11 editions.
Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton and his team will take centre stage, hoping for another year of dominance after winning both titles for the past six years and ending up fastest in winter testing. Ferrari can be trusted to provide plenty of headlines with four-times champion Sebastian Vettel fighting to reassert himself at the team after being outshone by quick newcomer Leclerc, a double winner in 2019.
Lewis Hamilton addressed his insecurities on Thursday -- and not having a good enough six-pack was one of them -- without giving away any ammunition to Sebastian Vettel in their Formula One title battle.
Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton dominated the Styrian Grand Prix in a Mercedes one-two on Sunday to celebrate his 85th Formula One win and move a step closer to Michael Schumacher's record of 91 victories. Finnish Team mate Valtteri Bottas, winner of last weekend's season-opener behind closed doors at the same Austrian circuit, finished a distant runner-up with his championship lead cut to six points.
Verstappen took a grid penalty at the previous race in Russia and finished second after starting at the back of the field, his progress helped after late rain caused problems for others.
Lewis Hamilton seized pole position in the dying seconds of qualifying for the first Portuguese Grand Prix in 24 years on Saturday to deny and dismay Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas once again.
Alpine's target is to fight for the championship within 100 races of the start of Formula One's new rules era, which will begin with the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20.
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.
Max Verstappen gave himself a perfect 20th birthday present by winning the last Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, while Lewis Hamilton stretched his Formula One world championship lead to 34 points.
Daniel Ricciardo kept calm and carried on to win a tense Monaco Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday after power unit problems threatened to wreck his hopes of victory in Formula One's showcase race.
Red Bull closed the gap to champions Mercedes in the constructors' standings to one point.
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.
'The phenomenal Max Verstappen was both sloppy and superb in Germany, getting caught out during the first two starts, and even spinning his car around to give the crowd something to gasp at with a Batmobile-esque 360 degree turn. 'After Hamilton crashed and Verstappen sniffed victory, though, he pounced hard, put his foot down, and took a deserved race win,' says Rediff's F1 columnist Raja Sen.
The triple champion, who started the race from a record 69th career pole position, led Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas to a runaway one-two finish in front of the massed ranks of red-shirted Ferrari fans.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
The last time Kimi Raikkonen stood on top of a Formula One podium, Lewis Hamilton had just joined Mercedes with one championship to his name and Sebastian Vettel was riding high with Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton has competed with Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher and Vettel, champions all of them, and he has come out on top.
Since the traditional Australian opener was cancelled in March, Formula One has agreed changes to help teams hard hit by COVID-19.
Max Verstappen won Red Bull's home Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton suffered his first race retirement since 2016 and lost the Formula One championship lead to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
Ferrari had all the tools to be successful this season but mistakes and mechanical issue thwarted the team's title ambitions, according to Kimi Raikkonen.
Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, his landmark 51st career victory cutting Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's overall lead to 19 points and keeping the German waiting for a first title. The pole-to-flag victory was the triple world champion's eighth of the season and put him level with France's Alain Prost in the all-time lists of winners. Only Michael Schumacher (91) has more. Rosberg, who would have clinched the title had he won and Hamilton finished 10th or lower, crossed the line 8.354 seconds behind to anchor champions Mercedes to a sixth one-two finish of the season.
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.
The pole was Charles Leclerc's second in a row
That was only the 12th time that a driver had started that low and won.
Ferrari showed impressive pace during pre-season testing and are considered the team most likely to dethrone Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton's lap of one minute 25.892 seconds is a track record at the Silverstone circuit.
The Mercedes driver smashed the Monza track record with a sensational lap of one minute 18.887 seconds to lead team mate Valtteri Bottas in another front row lockout.
Lewis Hamilton took pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix for the second year in a row on Saturday with Ferrari's championship leader Sebastian Vettel alongside the Mercedes driver on the front row.
Hamilton will equal Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's all-time win record if he takes his seventh win of the season on Sunday.
Ferrari were already feeling the frustration and Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix added a measure of embarrassment to the mix for Formula One's most successful and glamorous team.
Hamilton wrapped up his record-equalling seventh title in Turkey last month and picked up his 11th win of the season in Bahrain on Sunday. Mercedes have already won the constructors' title for an unprecedented seventh year in a row.
Raja Sen brings us all the action from the track and the paddock at the Indian GP in Greater Noida this weekend.
Red Bull's Mexican Sergio Perez was a distant third, struggling with dehydration after a water bottle failure in the Texas heat.
Given how well Hamilton drove last weekend to win the Styrian GP in Austria, few would bet against the British driver securing an eighth success
Valtteri Bottas took pole position for Formula One's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix ahead of championship-leading Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton on Saturday.
Briton now 18 wins away from Michael Schumacher's all-time record
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix for a record sixth time on Sunday to stretch his lead over Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas to 39 points.
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