Saudi GP Qualifying: Perez claims maiden F1 pole, Hamilton out in Q1

Sergio Perez beat the Ferraris to claim his first-ever Formula 1 pole position in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying.

Just when Charles Leclerc appeared to have made it back-to-back P1’s to start the season, the Mexican emerged with a brilliant lap to snatch pole after an eventful session.

Q1

The action began early as a crash for Nicholas Latifi at Turn 13 triggered a red flag.

When the session resumed, the two Ferraris went fastest ahead of Verstappen, while George Russell put in a strong lap to go fourth for Mercedes.

In contrast, teammate Lewis Hamilton was struggling and was 16th, in the elimination zone, starting his final flying lap.

The seven-time world champion would improve only to 15th but was demoted back to P16 by Lance Stroll shortly after meaning his first Q1 exit since 2017.

Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi were 17th and 19th for Williams with Nico Hulkenberg between them in 18th for Aston Martin.

A fuel-related issue for Yuki Tsunoda meant he failed to set a time and will start P20.

Q2

A big crash for Mick Schumacher overshadowed Q2, with the German hitting the barrier at high-speed after losing control at Turn 12.

Schumacher was reported as conscious before heading to the medical centre for further checks, the accident also caused a lengthy red flag to clear his car, debris and clean the track to resume.

Sainz and Leclerc continued to lead Verstappen and Perez at the front, while in the battle to reach Q3, Russell squeaked through in P10 on mediums, saving Mercedes’ blushes.

The two McLarens just missed out on the top 10 in 11th and 12th, Lando Norris a tenth clear of teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Zhou Guanyu was 13th ahead of Schumacher, and Stroll in 15th.

Q3

It was an advantage for Sainz after the first run, as the Spaniard went 0.044s faster than Leclerc despite using used tyres compared to his teammate of fresh softs.

Perez was third with Verstappen only seventh after abandoning his first attempt and complaining of a lack of grip from his first set of Pirellis.

The second run though saw Carlos struggle to extract the grip from his new tyres, while Charles put in a flying lap to claim what looked a certain pole.

However, Perez would go purple in Sector 2 and did just enough to clinch the fastest time by just 0.025s.

Verstappen could only improve to fourth in the other Red Bull, a quarter of a second slower than his teammate.

The top two teams had a big advantage over the field with Esteban Ocon six-tenths behind Max in fifth.

Russell salvaged P6 for Mercedes, fractionally ahead of Fernando Alonso in seventh in the other Alpine.

Valtteri Bottas was eighth, with Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10.

Full results from qualifying can be seen below: