MAX TAKES CHARGE
Verstappen on pole in Jeddah
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - Red Bull’s triple world champion Max Verstappen continued his perfect start to the Formula One season with pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Friday and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc again alongside on the front row.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, last year’s winner in Jeddah in one of only three races that Verstappen did not claim, qualified third for Saturday’s race which has been brought forward a day to accommodate Ramadan.
The pole under the floodlights was another first for Verstappen, winner in Jeddah in 2022, who has never previously started from the top slot at the Corniche circuit.
The champion now has a career 34 poles and Friday was his third in a row.
He was fastest in all three phases of qualifying and ended up with a pole lap of one minute 27.472 seconds, with Leclerc 0.319 slower in 1:27.791.
Verstappen’s provisional time was so good he did not need to improve on it.
“That was a very lovely qualifying. The car was on rails,” the Dutch 26-year-old, who won from pole in the Bahrain seasonopener with the fastest lap and leading from start to finish, said over the team radio.
That was a very lovely qualifying. The car was on rails. Today I felt very comfortable in the car. Throughout qualifying, it was pretty crazy how fast you go around here. MAX VERSTAPPEN
“Today I felt very comfortable in the car. Throughout qualifying, it was pretty crazy how fast you go around here,” he said later.
Saturday will be the fourth successive race that Verstappen, now chasing a ninth straight win, and Leclerc have lined up along
side on the front row.
“Overall, Max had a tremendous lap and that wasn’t possible for me today but being on the front row was achievable,” said Perez.
“Anyway, we are still in the fight for tomorrow. It’s a long race and anything can really happen.”
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, third in Jeddah last year, qualified fourth with Oscar Piastri fifth for Mclaren and team
mate Lando Norris sixth.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start seventh and eighth for Mercedes with Yuki Tsunoda ninth for RB and Lance Stroll completing the top 10 for Aston Martin.
British 18-year-old Oliver Bearman will make his race debut in 11th place for Ferrari after being drafted in as a late replacement for Carlos Sainz, who developed appendicitis and had surgery on Friday.