Late drama was caused by a big crash from Verstappen, who lost control on a fast downhill right-hander and crashed through the gravel into the barrier.
Ferrari and McLaren started early enough to complete the lap ahead of Verstappen, but the Mercedes drivers were running behind the Dutchman on track.
Until Russellโs unexpected improvement, the crash seemed to secure the front row for Ferrari, which did not look like a contender for pole until the end of qualifying.
Leclerc was 0.059 seconds faster than Hamilton, who had been the fastest Ferrari driver all weekend.
Hamilton made a mistake during his first run in Q3, locking up his brakes at Turn 3 and had to abort his lap.
As a result, he had a different risk/reward ratio on the final lap and it wasnโt enough for him to beat his teammate.
Antonelli dropped back completely on his final lap approaching turn nine and was almost two seconds slower than his last run.
Verstappenโs first lap, which was third fastest behind Antonelli and Russell, was good enough for fifth place.
Both McLaren drivers improved their times in the final sessions, but Norris ended up just 0.027 seconds slower than Verstappen, with Piastri 0.009 seconds further back.
Rounding out the top ten were Red Bullโs Isak Hajar and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.