Verstappen cruises to maiden Saudi Arabian Pole

Max Verstappen has taken his maiden Saudi Arabian Pole position, beating out his ‘Street King’ teammate to start tomorrow’s Grand Prix alongside Charles Leclerc on the front row. 

Qualifying 1:

As the light went green for the second qualifying session of the season, it was no surprise to see a queue of cars filing out onto the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Alex Albon in the William led the first stream of cars out, with all eyes on Oliver Bearman as he left the pitlane half a lap later.

The 18-year-old’s first official timed lap in the competitive session was a 1:30.136s, a time which put him in last place.

As for the rest of the field, Fernando Alonso held the fastest Q1 time after the grid’s opening runs with a benchmark of 1:28.876s.

He was eventually demoted by the McLaren duo, with Oscar Piastri clipping the wall at Turn 27 to go fastest.

With 8 minutes on the clock, Max Verstappen set his opening time of the session, demoting the Australian by almost two-tenths.

Zhou Guanyu remained in his garage with his team continuing to work on his Sauber, as his teammate struggled to get out of the elimination zone.

The Mercedes duo were the only drivers running the medium compound, sitting on the fringes of a Q1 exit in P14 and P15.

Hamilton improved to P8 before George Russell went two-tenths better in P4.

As they improved, it brought the RB pairing closer to the elimination zone, with Ricciardo and Tsunoda inheriting their positions.

Yuki Tsunoda during qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.

They sat above the Alpines, Saubers and Sargeant in the elimination zone.

Charles Leclerc promoted himself into the fastest time slot, sitting almost two-tenths ahead of Verstappen before they swapped order once again.

Zhou joined the session with less than 2 minutes on the clock, not making it to the line in time to start his first and only flying lap attempt.

Lance Stroll was on a flyer for his final run, setting fastest sectors as he secured the second-fastest time of Q1.

It was hit or miss for Albon, with the Williams driver’s time edging closer to the elimination zone as the seconds ticked down.

By the chequered flag, the Thai driver had just scrapped through with the likes of the RBs and both Haas cars also advancing to Q2.

Bearman finished the session in P9, a brilliant effort for the British driver in his first-ever competitive F1 session.

Meanwhile, in the elimination zone, it was Valtteri Bottas, who encountered traffic on his final run, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu.

Qualifying 2:

Kevin Magnussen led the charge out of the pitlane, with the grid coming out in driver pairings to start the 15-minute Q2 session.

Haas’ plan to give Nico Hulkenberg a tow was immediately disbanded, however, when the German was forced to pull off to the side of the circuit.

Hulkenberg lost power through the opening sequence of corners, prompting an early Red Flag in Q2.

The session restarted just a few minutes later, with Bearman leading the way on a fresh set of soft tyres.

With only Mercedes and McLaren having set times, albeit slower than ideal, there was a scramble to set a solid banker lap with 10 just minutes on the clock.

Bearman aborted his first run after locking up and understeering in the middle sector of the lap, seeing him returning to the pits for a new set of tyres.

Oliver Bearman during his first ever F1 qualifying session at the Saudi Arabian GP. Image: Steven Tee / LAT Images.

After the majority of drivers had set their first banker laps, it was Verstappen who held the top spot, crossing the line 44 milliseconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, who had set two fastest sectors on his attempt.

Leclerc was a tenth back on the Dutchman, however, still a solid three-tenths ahead of Sergio Perez.

Oscar Piastri had a snap of understeer as he started his second flying lap attempt, setting a personal best lap that put his MCL38 into P4 behind the Ferrari.

Bearman’s first sector was not his best, understeering through Turn 22 which contributed to his eleventh-fastest lap time.

Daniel Ricciardo also found himself in the elimination zone as the clock ticked down, with his teammate barely safe in P9.

Alex Albon wasn’t able to make it to Q3, settling for P12.

Bearman was tantalisingly close to a spot in the top ten shootout, however, he was forced into a Q2 exit by just 36 milliseconds.

His gap to Leclerc was over five-tenths.

The young driver is also under investigation for driving too slowly, and not following the race director’s instructions.

Ricciardo was also unable to improve, seeing him set to start the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix behind Kevin Magnussen tomorrow.

As for the top three of the session, it was an impressive score from Aston Martin, with Alonso setting the third-quickest time behind the #16 Ferrari.

It was Max Verstappen, unsurprisingly, who ended the session steady on for Pole position.

Qualifying 3:

The remaining 10 drivers had their sights set on front-row glory, with Charles Leclerc leading the way as the first driver out of the pitlane.

The Mercedes and McLaren duo trailed behind him, however, the #16 wasn’t the first to set a time as he took a double warm-up lap approach.

Hamilton set the opening time which was subpar compared to his rapid teammate behind, with Russell’s time on the used tyre around five-tenths quicker.

Piastri split the Mercedes duo, with his teammate slotting in behind before the entire field was demoted by Sergio Perez.

Oscar Piastri during qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP. Image: Andy Hone / LAT Images.

The ‘Street King’ momentarily held the fastest time, however, his joy was short-lived with Verstappen’s 1:27.472s knocking him down a notch.

Leclerc said the car felt weird on new tyres, only setting a time quick enough for P4 behind Alonso.

The Aston Martin driver felt like his car had a lot of extra potential for his second run, with the Spaniard keen to get back out there.

With three minutes remaining in the session, the drivers left the pitlane slightly earlier for one last shot at securing Pole position in Saudi Arabia.

George Russell’s first sector was less than impressive, seeing him abandoning the lap and not making another attempt.

His teammate was one of the first to cross the line, early improving as he took the chequered flag.

Fernando kept a close eye on his former teammate, however, utilising a tow from Hamilton.

The advantage down the main straight was ultimately not enough to help the Aston Martin driver breach the top three, with Alonso se too start the race from P4.

Sergio Perez wasn’t able to keep his Saudi Arabian Pole streak going, with Max Verstappen outperforming his teammate by 0.335 seconds.

The Dutchman secured Pole position with his rapid time of 1:27.472s.

Ultimately, it was Charles Leclerc who continued his theme of splitting the Red Bulls, with the Ferrari driver set to line up alongside Verstappen on the front row.

The top three qualifiers for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Image: Getty Images // Red Bull Content Pool.

Further back, Piastri out-qualified his teammate in P5, with Lando Norris lining up alongside the Australian on Row 3.

The Mercedes duo also find themselves side-by-side, starting the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from P7 and P8.

Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll round out the top ten.

Lights out for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will take place at 4:00 AM, Sunday morning, AEST, with Oliver Bearman set to make a remarkable F1 debut. 

Qualifying Results:

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