By Abhishek Takle
SPIELBERG, Austria (Reuters) - Ferrari's Charles Leclerc stormed to pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday with Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton second fastest for Mercedes but subject to a stewards' enquiry.
The 21-year-old Monegasque went into the final shootout as favourite, having set the pace in two of the three practice sessions and throughout the early phases of qualifying, and duly delivered.
His second career pole was secured with a time of one minute 03.003 seconds -- the fastest ever lap around the undulating 4.3km Red Bull Ring.
"Come on, baby, yes!", shouted a jubilant Leclerc over the team radio after taking his first pole since the Bahrain Grand Prix in March, a race he would have won had an engine issue not dashed his hopes.
"I'm very happy to bring pole position back home, but tomorrow we'll finish the job,” added the Monegasque, who will start on the soft tyre compared to the medium tyre for his rivals.
Max Verstappen, winner last year in Austria, will line up third for his Red Bull team’s home race at a track owned by the energy drinks company.
Hamilton, 36 points ahead of Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas after winning six of eight races this season and the last four, could not match Leclerc and was second by 0.259 seconds.
The Briton risked being demoted from the front row, however, with stewards investigating the five-times champion for impeding Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen during the opening phase of qualifying.
The pole was Ferrari's first at the scenic circuit since Michael Schumacher in 2003. Austria was off the F1 calendar between 2003 and 2014.
Hamilton, looking for a slipstream to try and match Ferrari’s straight-line speed, acknowledged he was well beaten.
"Congratulations to Charles, he's been quick all weekend," he said. "We've just really not been able to keep up with them.
"Max has been driving really well all weekend as well. I think it's quite cool to see three different teams in the top three positions," added the 34-year-old.
"I've got to fight the young 'uns. That's cool."
Saturday’s pole was Ferrari’s second in three races but only the third in a season dominated by Mercedes, who are chasing their 11th win in a row to equal McLaren's 1988 modern era record.
It was a bittersweet success, however, with Leclerc's team mate Sebastian Vettel failing to make it out of the pits in the final phase of qualifying.
The German sat stranded in the garage, mechanics working furiously on the engine after discovering a problem with the air pressure line feeding the power unit.
Vettel will start ninth thanks to Kevin Magnussen, who qualified fifth for Haas but has a five-place grid drop for an unscheduled gearbox change.
Bottas, on pole for the last two years in Austria, will start alongside Verstappen in fourth place.
Lando Norris was sixth for McLaren but will start fifth after Magnussen’s penalty.
Raikkonen, who vented his frustration at Hamilton by throwing a rude gesture the Briton’s way, set the seventh fastest time ahead of team mate Antonio Giovinazzi with Red Bull's Pierre Gasly set to line up eighth.