As qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix got underway, the focus was on Ferrari and Red Bull – Would Red Bull dominate the rest of the field? What is Ferrari’s true pace?
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Q1 – All Eyes On The Bottom Five
The pit light went green and all 20 drivers were released under the lights at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
De Vries had a very early spin, the Dutchman clearly struggling after missing out FP3 due to engine problems. A break by wire issue caused him to pirouette as soon as he hit the brakes into turn one, ruining his tires and stunting the rookie’s confidence.
The Ferrari’s looked disappointing once again on their first runs, Leclerc only manages P2 behind Hulkenberg before being demoted to 5th by Verstappen, Perez and Russell. Carlos Sainz occupied the bottom spot on the timing sheets on his first run, 2.3s off of leading man Max Verstappen.
At the halfway point of the session, Lando Norris had an incident in the final turn, clipping the inside wall and damaging his front left steering arm. He was forced to pit for repairs which ruined his chances of getting out of Q1.
The drivers seemed accident prone in this session, Fernando Alonso spinning at turn 2 and Sargeant narrowly missing the wall and managing to steer clear of a fast approaching drivers behind.
At the drop of the flag in Jeddah, the Alpine’s of Ocon and Gasly put themselves into the safe zone as times tumbled up and down the field.
Sargeant had his first lap deleted after exceeding track limits, but the lap would have been good enough to take him through to Q2. His session went from bad to worse, using three different sets of tyres and struggling to pull a clean lap together.
Drivers out in Q1:
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Alex Albon
- Nyck De Vries
- Lando Norris
- Logan Sargeant
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Q2 – The Fight For The Top 10
The two Mercedes cars left the pits on used soft tyres, despite having more sets of new tyres available to them than those around. Red Bull were forced to start on used softs because they are one set short compared to Mercedes and Ferrari.
Fernando Alonso lit the times alight on his first lap in Q2 around Jeddah, the first driver into the 1m 28s with an improvement of over half a second from his Q1 lap as the Aston Martin seemed to come to life beneath the Spaniard.
Disaster struck when Verstappen suddenly slowed down, reporting an issue with the engine and crawling around the track in third gear. The Red Bull driver had a huge moment on his first lap, managing to avoid the walls but not setting a representative time.
The Red Bull garage flew into motion when their driver managed to make it back, the team desperately trying to find a fix that could allow Verstappen to get back out again but the damage was already done – Max jumped out of the car and accepted his fate, he will line up 15th on the grid for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez was unable to best Fernando Alonso’s first lap, the Mexican slotting into 2nd place ahead of both Ferrari’s and Lance Stroll.
The two Mercedes drivers jumped around the time sheets, improving with the fresh rubber being put on and finishing the session 6th and 8th.
Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari into P3, the pace seemingly returning to the Scarlet machine. Carlos Sainz was in 11th before his final run, the Ferrari driver trying desperately to get himself out of the bottom five. He would finish 4th behind his teammate, a better result for the two Ferrari drivers after a poor showing so far.
Oscar Piastri weaved his way into the top 10, the Australian’s first appearance in Q3 and Mclaren’s first of the season.
Nico Hulkenberg out qualified his teammate for the second time in a row, both Haas’ struggling for pace in Jeddah and ending up in the bottom five.
Drivers out in Q2:
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Valterri Bottas
- Max Verstappen
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Q3 – Who Gets Pole?
Fernando Alonso suddenly appears as a favourite to take pole for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, his Q2 performance a mega showing for the team and a positive sign of what the AMR23 can do.
The Spaniard went out all on his own at the start of Q3, stretching his legs around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and looking utterly comfortable on the tight turns.
Leclerc stole top spot from Alonso, the Ferrari engine seemingly turned up for qualifying. However, but Leclerc cannot forget the 10-place penalty he will serve for Sunday’s race.
Sergio Perez showed his hand on the first lap of Q3, banking a 1.28.2s and sending himself clear of Charles Leclerc by nearly half a second. Perez took his maiden pole in last year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, cementing himself as a street circuit specialist.
Going into the final laps the order was: Perez, Leclerc, Russell, Alonso, Stroll, Hamilton, Ocon, Sainz, Gasly, Piastri.
Fernando’s final lap took him only 2nd fastest behind Sergio Perez, the Aston Martin driver narrowly missing out on his first pole since 2012. He was displaced by Leclerc but due to his penalty will start ahead of the Ferrari driver – Charles will start 12th on Sunday. His teammate Lance Stroll set a lightning first sector, but lost out towards the end of the lap and will start the race 5th.
The Mercedes drivers had a quiet qualifying, struggling for pace and managing the traffic. Despite this, George Russell managed to put his car 4th, but he will start the race 3rd on the grid after Leclerc’s penalty.
Carlos Sainz qualified 5th behind Russell after he seemed to be unable to unlock the pace to take him any further. He will be hoping to move further up the field in the race and take the fight to the top 5.
The French duo at Alpine both made it into Q3, a positive result for the team and Gasly’s first appearance in Q3 for his new team. Oscar Piastri will start 8th in only his second Formula 1 race after penalties applied, lining up behind Lewis Hamilton.
Pole position went to Sergio Perez, the Red Bull driver taking pole around Jeddah for the second year running. He will lead the field away on Sunday, but will be looking over his shoulder with Alonso lining up alongside.
Final top 10 results before penalties applied:
- Sergio Perez
- Charles Leclerc
- Fernando Alonso
- George Russell
- Carlos Sainz
- Lance Stroll
- Esteban
- Lewis Hamilton
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
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