Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc struck an early blow against Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the Formula One championship by taking a brilliant pole position for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. Standings leader Leclerc posted 1 minute 17.868 seconds around the 5.278-kilometre Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne, which has been reworked on its return to the calendar for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began. Verstappen looked to have the edge on Saturday but Leclerc pipped him over the last two corners of his final flying lap to take his 11th career pole position by 0.286 seconds. “It …