Sergio Perez claimed pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in an action-packed qualifying session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after teammate and championship leader Max Verstappen retired in Q2 due to technical issues.
Verstappen was the firm favorite for pole position after leading in FP1, FP2, FP3 and the opening stages of Q1 of qualifying, but a driveshaft issue that hit in Q2 means he will miss Sunday’s race will start from 15th place on the grid.
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Perez picked up the pieces in Verstappen’s absence, setting a 1m 28.265 in the decisive Q3 stage to claim a second successive pole in the Kingdom, 0.155s ahead of Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc, who will finish 10th. lose due to a motor penalty.
Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin therefore jump to the front row as their strong start to the season continues, followed by George Russell’s leading Mercedes, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and teammate Lance Stroll.
A much stronger qualifying performance from Alpine saw them finish seventh and tenth respectively with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, with Lewis Hamilton finishing eighth in his Mercedes and rookie Oscar Piastri impressing on his way to P9 in his McLaren.
Haas and Alfa Romeo were unable to clear the second qualifying hurdle, with Nico Hulkenberg finishing 11th ahead of Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas, while Verstappen completed the list of drivers forced to drop out in Q2 due to his costly issues.
AlphaTauri lost both cars in Q1, with Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries taking P16 and P18 respectively – the latter fouled in the last corner of his final lap after missing FP3 due to a power unit change.
Alex Albon was the leading Williams in 17th and split the two AlphaTauris, while Lando Norris was the biggest name to go out in Q1 after hitting the turn 27 wall and suffering steering damage that could not be repaired.
It was a messy second F1 qualifying session for Logan Sargeant, who lost his first lap for going over track limits, spun on his second attempt and eventually ran into a technical problem on his final attempt, leaving him at the back of the grid with no time. .
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit looked stunning under the lights during qualifying
AS IT HAPPENED
Q1 – Verstappen and Red Bull set the early pace
As the action got underway in Q1 there was early drama as De Vries’ car tore away from him on his first lap under braking before Turn 1, ruining a set of soft tires and adding to the Dutchman’s misery after his lost workout.
It was a much smoother start for compatriot Verstappen, who immediately made his intentions known by clocking a fast 1m 28.761s on his first run, putting him in P1 exactly half a second ahead of Perez’s sister Red Bull.
After De Vries’ wild spin, there were similar problems for Norris, who climbed the wall in the final corner and reported damage to the steering wheel, and Alonso, who lit up the rear exiting the first chicane and made a 360 – leaving he was forced to reverse. again.
Moments later, Logan Sargeant had Q1’s biggest moment when he spun into fast corner 22/23 and stopped dangerously close to the barriers, rushing to set a lap time after also losing his first attempt due to the circuit. boundaries.
It was a messy end to qualifying for Logan Sargeant
As the second phase of runs unfolded amid sporadic yellow flags, Red Bull maintained their one-two position, ahead of the Aston Martins, Ferraris, Hulkenberg’s Haas and the two Mercedes drivers, who were split by Zhou’s Alfa Romeo.
McLaren experienced mixed fortunes in Q1 as rookie Piastri took 11th and progressed to Q2, ahead of Ocon, Magnussen, Gasly and Bottas, but teammate Norris fell at the first hurdle due to his aforementioned incident.
As expected from their practice form on Friday, AlphaTauri lost both cars in the early stages, Tsunoda was 16th and De Vries dropped out in 18th after a messy finish to his final lap, with Albon’s Williams between them.
Norris finished 19th during his Q1 drama, with Sargeant in the back – the only driver with no time – after his lap and spin deleted were followed by an aborted last attempt when the American reported that “something was broken”.
Eliminated: Tsunoda, Albon, De Vries, Norris, Sargeant
Norris came out of Q1 with a shock after hitting the turn 27 wall
Q2 – Massive drama as Verstappen’s Jeddah pole hopes are dashed
When the green light came back on at the end of the pit lane for the start of Q2, it was Alonso who made the first move and stormed to the top of the timesheets with a 1m 28.757s – slightly faster than the time posted by Q1 pacemaker Verstappen .
Then, just as Verstappen was wrapping up for his maiden run, disaster struck for the reigning world champion who – shortly after surviving a “big moment” through the first sector – reported an engine problem over the radio.
Verstappen stumbled back to the pits in an attempt to salvage the situation, but with only half a dozen minutes left on the clock there was little his mechanics could do. .
Amid a spate of late runs, Perez took over at the top with a 1m 28.635s, just over a tenth ahead of Alonso, followed by the Ferraris, Stroll’s other Aston Martin and Mercedes duo Russell and Hamilton, separated by Ocon’s Alpine.
Piastri and Gasly were the other two drivers to progress to Q3, meaning the two Alfa Romeos (van Zhou and Bottas) and two Haas machines (van Hulkenberg and Magnussen) joined the frustrated Verstappen as Q2 eliminaters.
Eliminated: Hulkenberg, Zhou, Magnussen, Bottas, Verstappen
Qualifying GP Saudi Arabia 2023: Max Verstappen out of qualifying in Q2 after car breakdown in Jeddah
Q3 – Perez makes it two poles of two in Jeddah
As the pole position shootout began, with no expected favorite Verstappen, the opening stages of the runs were topped by Perez, who clocked a 1m 28.265s aboard his RB19 – half a second ahead of Leclerc’s Ferrari, Russell’s Mercedes and Alonso’s Aston Martin.
There was a close call as the different run plans came together, with Sainz running into Russell at the pit exit and losing some momentum, but the pair managed to avoid contact and the 10 drivers involved in Q3 all managed to get the black and white checkered flag .
Leclerc was one of the big improvers on his second run to take Alonso to P2, albeit with the caveat that he will drop 10 grid positions due to his engine change ahead of the weekend – but no one could challenge Perez, meaning he could give up his last lap.
Alonso finished third with another strong showing in his Aston Martin, but he will be the first to benefit from Leclerc’s drop from P2 to P12. He joins Perez on the front row of the grid and sets off a tantalizing run into Turn 1 on Sunday.
Russell was next in fourth, ahead of Sainz, Stroll, Ocon and team-mate Hamilton, while Piastri and Gasly completed the top 10 positions – all gaining a spot on the grid as Leclerc’s penalty kicked in.
Verstappen was a glaring omission from the top three in qualifying
Key quote
“It was difficult, that Q3, especially not getting to that second round. That [first Q3 run] was very good, it was very clean. Really clean. Getting that lap right you really feel the Formula 1 cars come to life in this place and maximizing that lap was really important because with the problem we had in the last run it was really important because the job was improving.
“It is a shame [about Verstappen’s stoppage]. Max has been very strong all weekend and hopefully tomorrow we can have both cars there. You never know with these cars, reliability issues can happen to you at any time” – Sergio Perez, Red Bull
What’s next?
The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix starts at 2000 local time on Sunday evening. Verstappen leads the championship after winning the season opener in Bahrain, but will he leave Jeddah intact with that lead?
Head over to the RACE HUB to find out how you can join the action.