A mixed-result session for ORACLE Red Bull Racing after reliability issues force an early retirement from the session for Max Verstappen but a second pole position in Jededah for Sergio Pérez secures a front-row position for the team alongside Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso.
Q1 – AlphaTauri, Williams Struggle as Norris Hits the Wall
The beginning of the session was a quiet one with the teams somewhat hesitant to get out on the circuit, but the main story of the session was Lando Norris being out-qualified by his rookie teammate Oscar Piastri after the Brit lost control of his McLaren and collided with the wall. Norris finished his participation in qualifying this weekend in nineteenth after his collision with the wall forced him to box.
Logan Sargeant was also the main talking point of the session after he survived a narrow collision with the wall. The American overshot on one of the corners causing his Williams to spin wide, a cloud of smoke exploding onto the track as a result of the driver’s harsh breaking. In his second weekend appearance for Williams Racing Sargeant also caused some controversy during the session after he had a lap time deleted for breaking track limits. He finished the session at the bottom of the timesheet in twentieth after he was forced to retire, cutting his qualifying session short.
At the end of the first instalment, ORACLE Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen sat at the top, with Sargeant at the other end of the timesheet, Lando Norris to nineteenth, Nyck De Vries eighteenth, Alex Albon to seventeenth and Yuki Tsunoda in sixteenth.
Qualifying 2 – Verstappen Suffers Mechanical Glitch, Piastri Makes Q3
The second session in Saudi Arabia would see a shocking early exit for current reigning Champion Max Verstappen after a suspected transmission issue forced the Dutchman to come to a grinding halt and limp home into the pits. Sunday’s race will see Max start fifteenth, above Tsunoda and just below Valtteri Bottas.
An impressive session for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team as Alonso set the quickest time, breaking into the 1.28 lap times just a few minutes into the session, the Spaniard getting the pace from AMR23 thanks to Verstappen’s reliability issues shaking up the end results.
Piastri was once again impressive whilst driving in the McLaren after out-qualifying his teammate the Australian made it into the third and final session of qualifying, as did Pierre Gasly who managed to catapult himself from eighteenth to tenth in the dying moments of the session, bumping Haas F1 Team driver Nico Hülkenberg out of the top fifteen.
Q3 – Pérez Grabs Second Career Pole
With Verstappen absent from the grid, the third session started with the pole favourite being none other than Double World Champion and Aston Martin driver, Alonso who finished the session in third, but due to Leclrec’s grid penalty will start alongside pole sitter Pérez on the front row.
Despite reliability issues, Red Bull still had an impressive session with Mexican driver Pérez putting in the laps that kept him inside the top five. Ferrari who have been lacking in pace all weekend seemed to improve after Charles Leclerc found the pace he was missing and spent the whole session sitting comfortably in the top half of the final qualifying session, but a grid penalty means the Monégasque driver will start Sunday’s race twelfth.
McLaren still isn’t where they want to be, especially after the disappointment of Norris not making it past the first qualifying session. However, rookie Piastri is proving he has more to give after his performance in qualifying. The driver impressively finished the session in ninth above Gasly.
But the final story of qualifying was Pérez winning pole position ahead of Sunday’s main event at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, alongside Alonso, George Russell to third, Carlos Sainz Jr. to fourth, Lance Stroll to fifth, Esteban Ocon above his team-mate in sixth, Oscar Piastri in seventh, and Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly and Nico Hülkenberg making it to the top ten thanks to Charles Leclerc’s ten-place grid penalty.
