Hamilton arrived in the paddock wearing an all-denim outfit with several open buttons on his long-sleeved shirt that showed at least four stacked necklaces.
The 23-year-old, who finished second in Saturday’s Sprint race, had started on the harder prime tyre which would have put him in the fight for the win in the latter stages of the race.
Verstappen never really challenged Leclerc, whose Ferrari was clearly the quicker car under race conditions in Melbourne.
The brilliant drive from Leclerc gave Ferrari its first pole position in Melbourne since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.
Leclerc won the opening race of the season in Bahrain and Verstappen took the second in Saudi Arabia, both in March.
Jehan Daruvala claimed his second podium of the season by finishing third in the Formula 2 Feature race, held on the sidelines of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Schumacher crashed Saturday and was airlifted to a hospital for further examination before returning to his hotel. Haas F1 ruled Schumacher out of the race Sunday and the American team said it would field just one car.
In a statement, F1 and governing body FIA confirmed Saturday that “following discussions with all the teams and drivers,” the grand prix “will continue as scheduled.”
The 23-year-old, who races for Prema Racing and is a member of the Red Bull Junior team, had started fourth after qualifying seventh under the championship's reverse grid rules.
Lewis Hamilton has inspired other alleged torture survivors like Najah Yusuf and Ali AlHajee, the other two who wrote to Hamilton in November 2020.
The seven-time Formula One champion — full name Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton — plans to include "Larbalestier” as a third middle name.
Hamilton missed out on a record eighth F1 title on the last lap of the last race last year and is looking to grab his crown back from Verstappen.
Gene Haas also said his team was financially stable despite the decision Saturday to cut ties with Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and sponsor Uralkali. The Russian fertilizer company is owned by Mazepin's father, Dmitry Mazepin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Formula One dropped this season’s Russian Grand Prix at Sochi as the invasion of Ukraine drew punitive measures in the sporting world
Russia pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital Friday after unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides.
Four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel says he will not race in the Russian Grand Prix in September after Russia launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine earlier Thursday.
The federation's newly-elected president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said in a video posted online on Thursday that Michael Masi will be replaced by Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas who will alternate as race directors.
Sebastian Vettel said Formula One drivers had not been consulted about the sport’s plans to do away with the pre-race slot for taking the knee, and suggested the decision may have been taken for business reasons.
Noah successfully completed stage 3 in 2 hours, 49 minutes and 11 seconds.
Nicholas Latifi's crash in the Abu Dhabi GP with five laps remaining brought out the safety car and helped Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton for the F1 title.
"It's my life goal achieved. It's been an incredible battle with Lewis [Hamilton]... I think we really pushed each other to the limit, sometimes over the limit," said Max Verstappen.
Verstappen pitted for fresh tires while Hamilton stayed on track. The race resumed with one lap remaining.
Lewis Hamilton was awarded his knighthood in the 2021 New Year Honours list.
Hamilton was cruising to victory when Nicholas Latifi's crash on lap 53 of the 58-lap race brought the safety car on to the track.
Heartbreak for Hamilton after Red Bull title rival Max Verstappen beat him to the win and the title in a safety-car aided last-lap pass.