Thankfully, Red Bull is going through a rough patch. In a season where McLaren has secured pole position in all but one qualifying session, which went to Max Verstappen, the Woking-based team has once again been surprised by the Dutch driver at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah.
Max Verstappen steals pole position from Piastri in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying
The four-time champion was the fastest in Saturday’s qualifying session and will start ahead of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz will start sixth behind Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli. Fernando Alonso, who was eliminated in Q2, will start thirteenth.
Max Verstappen had led Q1 and slipped between the McLarens in Q2, and when the session resumed, on used tires, he beat Piastri by a thousandth of a second, before George Russell overtook him by a tenth and the four-time champion finally prevailed with a 1:27.294 that left everyone speechless.
In fact, the Red Bull driver did a spectacular job, working his magic once again to take a stratospheric pole position against all odds. Piastri failed to capitalize on the McLaren’s superiority, and Russell was very close behind. Norris capped off the disaster with his accident, and Carlos Sainz achieved a spectacular result with sixth place.
Hamilton then went from strength to strength, followed immediately by Carlos Sainz in sixth, who slipped into Q3 as the only driver alongside Pierre Gasly outside the top four teams, and also as the only Williams after Alex Albon crashed out in Q2 in eleventh. The Spaniard will have Andrea Kimi Antonelli right in front of him, who did his part by qualifying fifth.
Piastri and Verstappen, a tough fight for pole
The battle for pole was fought hard by Piastri and Verstappen. The Australian beat the Dutchman’s time by 150 thousandths of a second, and it looked like he could take pole position for the third time this season, but at the last moment, Max produced a superb lap, setting a new track record and beating the Australian’s time by just 10 thousandths of a second.
It was the second preferred position for the four-time champion. “I didn’t expect to be on pole after Free Practice 3, I enjoyed driving the car, I noticed more grip. The car has come back to life overnight. It’s the best position for the race, but it’s going to be difficult to hold them off (the McLarens),” predicted Verstappen, third in the World Championship, eight points behind Norris and five behind Piastri.
No one could have imagined that he could pull off another magical feat that surprised everyone once again. Just in case there were any doubts, he reminded everyone that he is still the best driver on the current grid by taking pole position with a Red Bull that only he knows how to tame.
Carlos Sainz is sixth and continues to improve with Williams. Alonso is 13th, above the performance of his Aston Martin.
With Sainz, the Spanish driver’s adaptation to the Williams is improving, and the proof is in events such as the one he is experiencing in Saudi Arabia since the first practice sessions. Q3 for the Madrid native, compared to the elimination in the intermediate round of his teammate, Alex Albon. Carlos Sainz is gradually reversing the results in the Grove garage.
On Fernando Alonso’s side, the Spaniard once again used three sets of soft tires in Q1 (although he aborted his lap with the third) and, without fresh tires, in Q2 he could only manage 13th, albeit ahead of two drivers who had used new sets. His Aston Martin teammate, Stroll, fell at the first hurdle, finishing 16th. The Asturian, like Max Verstappen, once again placed his car in a better position than expected in terms of actual performance.