The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has a Formula 1 pole position.
Carlos Sainz beat Max Verstappen to third place.
Initial indications were that Mick Schumacher was uninjured, but he was taken to the hospital after a high-speed accident.
Lewis Hamilton had his worst showing in qualification since 2009, finishing in 16th place.
A missile strike against an oil facility just nine miles from the track caused a difficult weekend for F1.
The drivers spent four hours in meetings late into the night on Friday discussing whether it was safe to continue driving, after the Saudi government assured them the event was secure.
Leclerc said that they don't want to go into details of what they talked about.
It was useful to talk about this all together. It took a bit of time but that is normal in those situations.
We don't listen to the people who are taking care of the situation and we don't trust them.
The pole was unexpected. He beat Verstappen once in their first season together and this achievement came in his 220th grand prix.
It was well deserved. He was close to Verstappen throughout the weekend but was able to beat him at the end of the race.
Perez said that he could do another 1,000 laps and he could never beat this lap time.
The Mexican was quicker than Verstappen by 0.261 seconds.
Perez beat Leclerc by 0.225 seconds, with Carlos Sainz third.
Lewis Hamilton was 16th and George Russell was sixth.
The final run by Leclerc improved by more than 0.2 seconds to leapfrog himself ahead of Sainz, who had taken the pole with his first lap.
Leclerc said he was happy with the lap. I went for it in the second lap. I didn't expect that lap time from Checo and he did an incredible job today.
It sets up an intriguing race, with the Red Bulls sandwiched between the Ferraris at the start, following Charles Leclerc's win in the season opener.
There were two red flags at the end of the crash-strewn session, the second of which was a massive crash involving Mick Schumacher which halted the session for over an hour.
Mercedes are not competitive at the moment as they battle aerodynamic problems in their car but no one would have foreseen Hamilton's struggles.
Hamilton was only 11th fastest in the final practice, but he complained of a lack of grip after the final qualification.
He said that it was looking good in P3 and that he tried to progress in a similar direction.
It was his worst performance since the British Grand Prix.
Russell was quicker than the seven-time world champion in the first session and went through to the final top 10 shoot-out.
Ocon snuck in front of Wolff, who said the team were still the third fastest car behind Red Bull and Ferrari.
The second Alpine of Fernando Alonso, Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas, Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen finished in the top 10.
When he pushed too hard through the fast turns for Turns Eight and Nine, he spun and smashed into the wall.
The first indications were that he was uninjured but he was taken to the hospital for precautionary checks after the Haas was badly damaged.
Nicholas Latifi lost his Williams on the entry to Turn 13 in the first session. The impact was less severe and he hit crash barriers rather than an exposed concrete wall, which allowed the session to resume after a few minutes.
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