Sergio Perez will start on pole for tomorrow morning Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after topping this morning’s qualifying session.
It’s only the second time the Red Bull driver has started in top spot in his 236 starts with his only other coming at the same event last year.
Whilst he was aided in-part by technical issues for early pace-setter Max Verstappen in Q2 and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc’s 10 place grid penalty Perez was still immense to top the time sheets over Leclerc by .155 seconds.
The Ferrari driver drops to 12th on the grid come race time due to a new ECU exceeding the limits implemented by the FIA in just the second race of the season.
This promotes Fernando Alonso onto the front row as the Spaniard seeking his 100th podium this weekend. He was some half a second off the pace but backed up his opening round pace to show Aston Martin just may have bridged the gap to the front three teams.
George Russell wasn’t too far behind and will start third with the first Ferrari, of Carlos Sainz, alongside. They’ll immediately face the pressure of the row behind with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll starting fifth, next to a quick looking Alpine of Esteban Ocon.
Lewis Hamilton gets the go ahead for seventh ahead of Australian rookie Oscar Piastri who qualified strongly to make Q3 for the first time in his career at just his second event.
McLaren’s early season woes may be put on the backburner for now following Piastri’s impressive performance, however their senior driver Lando Norris will start on the back row after clipping a wall and sustaining steering damage in Q1.
Pierre Gasly made sure it was two Alpines in the top 10 and will start ninth following Leclerc’s penalty up ahead. He has Nico Hulkenberg for company on the fifth row from 10th despite him being knocked out in Q2.
Zhou Guanyu is the final benefactor from the relegated Ferrari, bumped into 11th and Leclerc slotting in beside him.
Kevin Magnussen starts on the seventh row next to Valtteri Bottas with Verstappen forced to settle for 15th. He’d outclassed the field in Q1 and looked all but certain for pole due to the half a second gap over the field.
It wasn’t to be for the two-time defending champion who ground to a halt early in Q2, seeing him fail to set a competitive time
Tomorrow’s race may be a long one for Williams and AlphaTauri after both drivers from each outfit were knocked out in Q1. Logan Sargeant starts at the back of the grid – next to Norris – after failing to set a fast lap, aided by a track limits violation on his first attempt, spin on his second and technical issues on his third.
Nyck De Vries and Alex Albon lockout the ninth row, leaving Yuki Tsunoda in 16th to start next to Verstappen.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix begins at 6am and will be shown live on Sky Sport 5 (055).
Header Image: Giuseppe Cacace/Getty Images
