Formula 1 | Verstappen beats Leclerc in Saudi GP F1 qualifying

An interesting qualifying session is on the horizon as night falls over Jeddah. And for good reason: Max Verstappen is the favorite after a good time in EL3, but the Dutchman has never taken pole in Saudi Arabia.

Last year, a mechanical problem prevented him from doing so, but he is apparently expected to be around the corner for this second qualifier of the season. As in Bahrain, the gap between the five fastest teams should be very tight.

It’s hard to say which of Aston Martin, Ferrari, McLaren or Mercedes F1 will shine the most against Red Bull, but places on the front row of the grid will be at a premium. It will be interesting to see how Olli Berman performs at short notice in place of Carlos Sainz, who is suffering from appendicitis.

At the back, after a slightly more encouraging start to the weekend, we hope to see Alpine in slightly better shape than in Bahrain. But even here, places in Q2 will be costly against Haas form, RB F1 who can surprise and very fast drivers like Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon.

For Stack F1, the break was not one as the team had to work on repairing Guanyu Zhou’s car after a crash in FP3.

Q1 – 18 minutes

Zhou has not been on track yet, and Stack has not communicated whether or not the driver will participate in the qualifying session. Apart from that, the RB F1 and Red Bull drivers did not come out at the beginning of the session, but the rest of the participants came to the track.

Fernando Alonso took the lead in 1’28″876 before Nico Hulkenberg set the first benchmark and was not beaten by the McLaren drivers. Lance Stroll finished second, while Berman finished last, 1″2 behind Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell attempted a lap on the medium tire but the times were not very convincing. Pierre Gasly positioned himself in front of the beerman before Esteban Ocon got between them. Charles Leclerc finished tenth behind Alonso for the first time.

Hulkenberg held off and Magnussen took third, before Piastre took the best time in 1’28″755. Albon finished sixth and Norris second, 0″050 behind his teammate. And Berman took over Leclerc for the fourth time!

Sergio Perez finished second, 6 thousandths behind Piastre, but Max Verstappen agreed in 1’28″491. Leclerc and Alonso took second and third. Russell took the black flag and the white flag to cross the pit line, while Stroll took his Watched the appearance. Time disallowed for failure to respect track limits.

Threatened with elimination, the Mercedes drivers put on soft tires, while 6 minutes from the end of the session, Zhou was still not on track. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda are 12th and 13th. Hamilton set the eighth fastest time and Russell fourth.

Leclerc set a best time of 1’28″318. Hulkenberg improved to tenth ahead of his team-mate. Bottas grabbed a provisional 14th place, but all drivers except Zhou were on track. For the Chinese, we thought it was over. But by the end of the session he had taken 1mn50 on the track.

Sargent did not advance from his 18th place finish, confirming his elimination. Perez won for the third time and Verstappen regained the lead in 1’28″171. Ricciardo dropped to 11th, while Tsunoda was ninth, three places ahead of his teammate.

Lance Stroll had a fast lap and was able to move into second place. Ocon did no better than 17th, ahead of Gasly. Zhou failed to start his lap in time. Ollie Bearman lapped very slowly, but he certainly wouldn’t worry as he was unlikely to bother anyone.

Bottas, Ocon, Gasly, Sargent and Zhou were eliminated.

Q2 – 15 minutes

Hulkenberg is suffering from mechanical problems and says he has lost power on his Haas. Hamilton set first in 1’28″680, beaten by Russell in 1’28″608. Piastre did no better and Norris intervened. The yellow flag was waved as Hulkenberg was stopped on the side of the track. A red flag has been displayed.

6:32 pm: Berman was on a very good lap when the red flag forced him to stop. The session will resume at 6:34pm!

Berman made a mistake on his fastest lap, while Perez set a best time of 1’28″539. Ricciardo was sixth and Verstappen improved to 1’28″078. Alonso fell 0″044 behind the Dutchman’s very good time. Leclerc was third 0″101 behind Verstappen, while Stroll was behind Perez.

Piastre set the fourth fastest time and Norris moved into fourth ahead of his teammate. Berman set the 11th fastest time and did not make it into the qualifying zone. All drivers were on track except Alonso and Hulkenberg.

Albon finished 12th and Hamilton eighth. Russell improved to fifth, and Ricciardo did not. Tsunoda set for eighth and Berman couldn’t do better than 11th in 36k. Verstappen improved to 1’28″033, and Leclerc got between him and Alonso.

Those eliminated were Berman, Albon, Magnussen, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg.

Q3 – 12 min

Hamilton set the first time of Q3 in 1’28″807, immediately beaten by Russell in 1’28″316. Piastre was 0.009 seconds behind second-placed Russell and Norris was three-tenths of a second behind both leaders.

Tsunoda had the distant time, and Perez did 1’27″808, two tenths ahead of Perez. But Verstappen made everyone agree in 1’27″472! Three tenths ahead of Perez and half a second ahead of Alonso. Stroll finished seventh and Leclerc started a lap later. He finally failed to finish fourth by eight tenths.

Hamilton improved but only took the seventh fastest time. Norris progressed and set the fourth fastest time. Piastri also improved and was ahead of his teammate. Tsunoda was also making progress and improved to ninth place.

Perez did not improve, Leclerc moved into second place ahead of Perez, and Alonso also beat his time, but only finished fourth. Stroll was also in green but missed his last sector and finished tenth.

So Verstappen is on pole in front of Leclerc, then Perez and Alonso. Piastre and Norris are on the third row ahead of Russell and Hamilton, then Tsunoda and Stroll.