Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen delivered his second pole of the season in qualifying for Formula 1’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while championship leader Lando Norris crashed out
Norris is due to start from 10th in Sunday’s race after a heavy shunt in Q3, while his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri missed out on pole by just 0.010 seconds and George Russell qualified third for Mercedes.
Q1
Haas driver Esteban Ocon posted an opening effort of 1m29.924s, and soon Norris beat that time to lead Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by half a second with a 1m28.026s. Piastri edged Norris by 0.007s with his first attempt, and Verstappen moved into third with a lap 0.129s off the pace.
Norris reclaimed top spot with a 1m27.803s, with Piastri remaining second despite also improving, but Verstappen responded with a 1m27.778s to end Q1 fastest.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was on the cusp of being eliminated, but improved late on to move into the top 10 and progress safely into Q2, and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso also successfully battled his way through. Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar also avoided the drop in 15th despite a late brush with the wall.
Ocon, meanwhile, was shuffled back to 19th – and out of qualifying. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Sauber duo Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were also eliminated, the latter spinning late on and ending up 20th.
Eliminated
16. Lance Stroll Aston Martin
17. Jack Doohan Alpine
18. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber
19. Esteban Ocon Haas
20. Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber
Q2
Williams’s Alex Albon set an opening gambit of 1m28.541s before Piastri moved ahead with a 1m27.690s. Verstappen immediately edged Piastri by 0.2s, but Norris went even faster with a 1m27.401s, a time that would not be beaten in the remainder of the session.
Hamilton again needed a late effort to avoid the drop, but only just after being demoted to 10th by Williams’s Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda. Those late improvements shuffled both Albon and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson out of the top-10 and brought an end to their qualifying. Lawson’s team-mate Hadjar, Alonso and Haas’s Ollie Bearman also failed to make it to Q3.
Eliminated
11. Alex Albon Williams
12. Liam Lawson Racing Bulls
13. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin
14. Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls
15. Ollie Bearman Haas
Q3
Piastri survived a brush with the wall to lead with a 1m27.560s, but soon his team-mate hit the wall hard and brought out the red flags. Norris emerged seemingly unscathed but, having not registered a lap time, ended qualifying in 10th.
Verstappen posted his first lap once the session resumed, and it was good enough to pip Piastri by 0.001s. Russell then eclipsed the pair with a 1m27.407s to move into provisional pole.
Piastri responded to go fastest once more by 0.103s before being denied by Verstappen’s pole-winning effort. Russell was shuffled back to third, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fourth ahead of Russell’s team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Sainz edged Hamilton to sixth by 0.037s, with Tsunoda just 0.003s behind in seventh and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly not far adrift in ninth.
Qualifying result
1. Max Verstappen Red Bull
2. Oscar Piastri McLaren
3. George Russell Mercedes
4. Charles Leclerc Ferrari
5. Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
6. Carlos Sainz Williams
7. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
8. Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull
9. Pierre Gasly Alpine
10. Lando Norris McLaren
Featured image credit: F1 on X
