Max Verstappen took F1 Saudi Arabian GP pole as Charles Leclerc managed to cut through and slot in second from Sergio Perez.
Q1:
The first part in F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying saw Mercedes pair use the medium tyre for their first run, with both the Red Bull and Visa Cash App RB drivers keeping it late to set their times. Stake F1 Team’s Zhou Guanyu did not make it out in the early part.
The Chinese racer did make it out for a run but it was not enough to get a proper lap in. His teammate Valtteri Bottas was the first to be out in 16th with a 1m29.179s lap from Alpine pair of Esteban Ocon (1m29.475s) and Pierre Gasly (1m29.479s).
Williams’ Logan Sargeant had a bad run to be 19th with a 1m29.528s lap, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fastest in the front with a 1m28.171s lap ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who put in a late lap to drop Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to third.
It was a clean session mostly apart from some kerb moment, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri tapping the wall. The Australian managed to continue still. There were some traffic situations too which affected the runs of few drivers.
Q2:
The second part in F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying started with an early red flag for Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg after he faced problems where he had to stop and switch off the car. It was cleared pretty soon as the session got going with 10 minutes on the clock.
It was a close run towards the end as Ferrari’s Oliver Bearman (1m28.642s) was knocked out in 11th after ending up only 0.036s behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari driver had a lock-up on his first set which left him to do more.
Williams’ Alexander Albon (1m28.980s) was 12th from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m29.020s), with Visa Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m29.025s) only 14th from Hulkenberg, as Verstappen (1m28.033s) stayed in front from Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Q3:
The final part in F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying saw Verstappen set the pace with a 1m27.472s lap from teammate Sergio Perez, who was 0.335s behind. Alonso was third, just over half a second away from the Dutchman, with Leclerc only fourth.
Mercedes’ George Russell slotted in fifth after the first run. The final running saw Verstappen not improve on his time but still manage to take pole in F1 Saudi Arabian GP. Leclerc, meanwhile, improved to second with a 1m27.791s lap.
Perez (1m27.807s) dropped to third as a result as Alonso (1m27.846s) improved his time to be fourth ahead of Piastri (1m28.089s), who beat McLaren teammate Lando Norris (1m28.132s).
The Mercedes pair were behind where Russell (1m28.316s) aborted his lap, with Lewis Hamilton (!m28.460s) improving to eighth. Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m28.547s) was ninth as he managed to beat Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m28.572s) in a good show.
More to come
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