Max Verstappen, the triple world champion from Red Bull, started the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Friday on pole position, with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari completing the first row once more.
Sergio Perez of Red Bull, who finished first in one of the three races Verstappen did not win last year in Jeddah, qualified third for this Saturday’s race, which has been moved up one day to accommodate Ramadan.
Verstappen, the 2022 Jeddah winner, made history by starting from the pole under the floodlights. He had never done so before at the Corniche track.
With his third consecutive pole on Friday, the champion now has 34 for his career.
He finished the qualifying round fastest overall, clocking a time of one minute, 27.472 seconds for the pole position, ahead of Leclerc by 0.319 seconds in 1:27.791.
Verstappen didn’t need to improve on his provisional time since it was so good.
“That qualification was really wonderful. The 26-year-old Dutch driver, who started the Bahrain season on pole and led the entire way, remarked over the team radio that “the car was on rails.”
“I was really at ease in the automobile today.
It was just insane how quickly you go around here during qualifying,” he remarked afterwards.
On Saturday, Verstappen—who is currently attempting to win nine races in a row—and Leclerc will start together in the lead lap.
“Overall, Max had a tremendous lap and that wasn’t possible for me today but being on the front row was achievable,” Perez said. In any case, we’re still fighting for tomorrow. Anything can truly happen in this long race.”
EARMAN TO MAKE HIS 11TH DEBUT
Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, who finished third in Jeddah the previous year, qualified fourth, followed by Oscar Piastri of McLaren in fifth and teammate Lando Norris in sixth.
Yuki Tsunoda of RB will start ninth, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes will start seventh and eighth, while Lance Stroll of Aston Martin will round out the top ten.
Oliver Bearman, an 18-year-old British driver, was brought in as a late substitute for Carlos Sainz, who suffered from appendicitis and underwent surgery on Friday.
Bearman will start his race career for Ferrari in 11th place.
Bearman nearly eliminated Hamilton in the second phase, with the seven-time world champion barely making it through in tenth place, while his father David watched from the Ferrari garage.
The reserve driver, who learned he was driving with little more than two hours’ notice, told Sky Sports, “The racer in me knows that the car was quick enough to be in Q3, so a little bit disappointed with that.”
“But I know that when I look back in a couple of days I’ll be quite proud of what I’ve managed to do today.”
Leclerc praised the performance, citing Bearman as the youngest rookie in Ferrari history and the youngest British driver in Formula One since the competition’s inception in 1950.
With his last-minute exertion, the Monegasque moved up to second place. “He has done an incredible job,” the player added.
“Not having completed FP1, or first practice, is a significant disadvantage. He jumped into a car that he didn’t know and was driving on the difficult Jeddah track right immediately in the third practice session.
It was nice to see, and I have no doubt that he is having an incredibly special weekend. I can’t begin to comprehend how amazing it is for him because I recall my first Formula One race, in which I wasn’t in a Ferrari and had months to prepare.”
Alan Baldwin wrote this in London, and Ken Ferris edited it.
