Fast corners, a relentless lap, and all under floodlights in the qualifying session for the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was all set for pole position and was ahead on his last lap, but hit the wall at the very last corner! That means Lewis Hamilton takes pole, ahead of Valtteri Bottas as Max Verstappen stays only third.
Cars were queuing to get out in the start of Q1 and certainly no one wanted to be caught behind slow traffic at this stage. Scuderia Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were able to get some fast times on the board immediately and had no problem in making it through to Q2, as Nicholas Latifi, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were the first to be eliminated. A surprise regarding the Aston Martin drivers given their pace this season, not so much given their pace this weekend.
The tyre the fastest time is set on in Q2 will dictate the top-10’s starting tyre for tomorrow. Hence we saw lots of yellow-marked medium tyres at the start of the second qualifying phase.
Carlos Sainz had a big moment, spinning at the start of the middle sector. He was then back out on track in his SF21 Ferrari, which miraculously escaped major damage from that spin, but Carlos ran wide again on his final flying lap, which means that unfortunately Carlos will start tomorrow’s race from P15. Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and George Russell were also out in Q2.
In Q3, Charles Leclerc put in an amazing lap to finish an unexpected P4, ahead of the Red Bull Racing car of Sergio Perez. A great performance from the Monegasque driver when it mattered the most, as Charles will now look to capitalize the starting position in tomorrow’s race.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Here are the complete results from qualifying ahead of tomorrow’s 2021 F1 World Championship race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Results (Classification):
Q1
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes – 1:27.511
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.111
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.142
Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari +0.543
Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.612
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +0.614
Lando Norris McLaren +0.669
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +0.931
Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.136
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo +1.243
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