Max Verstappen claims Pole Position in Qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP – a first in his career. His time of 1.27.472 is unmatchable by anyone, and the first pursuers are more than three-tenths away.
Charles Leclerc, after struggling with new soft tyres, sets a good lap at the end and will start ahead of Perez and Alonso.
McLaren and Mercedes switched compared to Bahrain, with the papaya cars in front. Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda entered Q3 with the VCARB-91.
Stake and Alpine are once again disappointing, as they were the last forces in Qualifying in line with what was seen seven days ago, together with Logan Sargeant on the Williams.
Saudi Arabia qualifying: Racing Bulls in Q3, Alpine and Sauber still at the bottom
In Q1, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu were knocked out. This was basically identical to the first phase of Qualifying seen in Bahrain.
Despite statements from earlier this week, Sauber still hasn’t solved their qualifying problems. However, the Jeddah circuit layout should give them a chance to recover.
In Q2, Oliver Bearman – the Ferrari rookie called to replace Carlos Sainz for the weekend – was eliminated.
The Englishman showed good speed, but lacked experience to optimise his machinery. A lack of practice time undoubtedly hurt the Ferrari Academy driver.
Others who missed out were Alexander Albon, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg.
As might be expected, on a higher-speed circuit, Haas was unable to replicate last week’s performance.
Yuki Tsunoda was the surprise in Q3, putting together a strong lap and doing four-tenths better than Ricciardo. This gives the Japanese driver a strong starting position of 9th for the Saudi Arabian GP.
Author: Andrea Vergani
Translation: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
