Sergio Perez stepped up for Red Bull to make sure the group began from the pole on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after a mechanical difficulty sidelined two-time defending world champion Max Verstappen.
Verstappen was quickest in all three follow periods on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit however his qualifying effort was minimize brief Saturday when he radioed “I have a problem. Engine, engine problem,” through the second session. The Dutchman drove to the pits, the place a driveshaft difficulty was found, and Verstappen’s qualifying effort was over.
It left Perez because the lone Red Bull consultant within the ultimate spherical of qualifying and he went on to win pole for the second consecutive year — the one two poles of his profession.
“Max has been really strong the whole weekend, so hopefully we can have both cars up there,” Perez stated. “You never know with these cars, reliability issues can hit you at any time.”
Verstappen will begin fifteenth.
“The driveshaft broke … It was annoying as a result of the automobile was good up till then, I used to be comfy in each session and each time I used to be on the monitor, I used to be fast, so for certain we may have fought for pole,” Verstappen said. “Instead, we now have a bit more work ahead of us. It is a long championship and we will stay positive. I think a win is tricky from that position, but I will try to score as many points as possible.”
Charles Leclerc qualified second for Ferrari but will drop 10 positions at the start of Sunday’s race because of a grid penalty for exceeding the allotted electronics control unit on the car’s engine in the season-opening race.
Leclerc said even without the penalty he wasn’t all that impressed with his qualifying effort because the entire grid is chasing Red Bull. Verstappen last year won a record 15 races, Perez added two victories and Red Bull claimed both the driver and constructors championships.
“The lap — I’m really, really happy. It was really on the limit,” Leclerc said. “On the other hand, I feel the Red Bull are quite far ahead and that is our goal, to beat them, so there is still a lot of work to do.”
The penalty to Leclerc pushes Fernando Alonso to the front row for the start after the Spaniard qualified third in his new Aston Martin ride. Alonso finished third in his season-opening debut race with Aston in Bahrain.
Is he in position to win his first F1 race since 2013?
“No, I think we are not in that position yet. I think on pure pace, Red Bull is in another league,” Alonso said. “I feel we have to focus extra on the opposite groups: Ferrari might be very robust, Mercedes they’re robust, and likewise Alpine, they’re quick right here.
“I think our race is behind us. But we saw Max could not complete qualifying with a mechanical issue, so even if we focus on our mirrors and try to keep the people behind us, if anything happened in front, we will try to take the opportunity, for sure.”
George Russell certified fourth for Mercedes — 4 spots forward of teammate Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion certified eighth.
“We just need to keep trying. No matter what changes we’ve been making, we’ve been struggling to extract the speed, and I just don’t feel properly connected to the car at the moment,” Hamilton stated. “That is something we will work on to improve the confidence in the next races. George did a great job and he wasn’t that far off some of the cars at the front, so we just need to keep pushing.”
Carlos Sainz Jr. was fifth for Ferrari adopted by Lance Stroll of Aston Martin. Esteban Ocon was seventh.
Oscar Piastri was ninth for McLaren and Pierre Gasly tenth for Alpine.
Logan Sargeant, the American rookie driving for Williams, was briefly atop the pace chart within the first qualifying group till his time was deleted for violating monitor limits. Sargeant’s tire had briefly touched an space of monitor thought of off limits and the FIA shortly deleted his lap.
Sargeant later spun within the qualifying group in his determined push to not qualify final. Had his earlier lap not been deleted, Sargeant would have superior into the second spherical of qualifying. He’ll begin twentieth.
“I put in a very fast lap but it was deleted as I crossed the pitlane entry by a margin. There was no performance gain so it’s frustrating, but I still had two more laps to deliver and I didn’t, so my apologies go to the team,” Sargeant stated. “Although I’ve given myself a lot more work than I needed to, I’m quite optimistic about (Sunday) and I’ll make it up to the team.”
Nyck de Vries missed Saturday morning follow with an engine downside then spun virtually instantly at first of qualifying, and Lando Norris of McLaren smacked the wall within the first qualifying group and needed to go to the pits for repairs. It prevented him from advancing as his rookie teammate Piastri moved on to the third spherical for the primary time in his profession.
The Jeddah circuit is the second-longest monitor on the F1 circuit at 6.174 kilometers (3.836 miles) and was constructed alongside the Red Sea. It debuted because the penultimate race on the 2021 calendar and is taken into account the “fastest street track” on the schedule with common speeds exceeding 250 kmh (160 mph).
