JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Sergio Perez claimed his first Formula 1 pole with a scintillating last-gasp effort in a dramatic and heavily disrupted qualifying session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Saturday at the Jeddah street circuit.
The Mexican, driving for Red Bull, snatched top spot from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the final seconds, with the pair split by just two-hundredths of a second at the conclusion of a wild qualifying session.
It was his first pole in his 215th attempt —the longest wait in F-1 history
“Today was very special to me, I achieved the best lap of my life. I feel like I could do another thousand laps and there is no chance I can get the same lap, with the amount of perfection and risk,” Perez said. “This is probably the most difficult track for qualifying all season, you know if you’re on pole here then you nailed the lap. You have to be very precise, you must take all the risks and the risk to reward is extremely high but the positions you have to take around this place to get the perfect lap are so hard.
“We came to Jeddah from a very difficult weekend in Bahrain and the Team have been pushing so hard out here and back in Milton Keynes, so I am extremely happy for them all. If anything, we were focusing more on the race pace so we felt Ferrari had the upper hand on us in qualifying. We will see if we have the pace to beat them in the race tomorrow. I need a good start and then I will try to control the race from there, it is going to be difficult because the Ferraris are quick and Max will be in the mix too. We have a long race ahead of us but I am confident we can come out on top again.”
The session was paused for an hour during Q2 after a violent high-speed crash involving Haas’ Mick Schumacher.
Schumacher was transferred to King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital in Jeddah for precautionary checks. The team has subsequently taken the decision to contest the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with the sole entry of Kevin Magnussen, who qualified 10th.
“A very eventful day for us,” said Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner. “The best thing is that Mick has apparently no injuries, he’s in the hospital right now and being evaluated by the doctors, so he is in good hands at the moment. There is a possibility that he’ll have to stay for observation overnight at the hospital. Based on these facts and where we are, we have decided not to field his car tomorrow. Kevin, having not done a lot of practice yesterday, I think he did a fantastic job today getting into Q3. His last run was not as planned but I think that was down to not having enough time on track. We’re still happy with Q3 and P10 tomorrow.”
Nicholas Latifi had also earlier triggered red flags as he swiped the wall in Q1 – a session that saw Lewis Hamilton make a shocking exit in 16th.
Hamilton’s teammate George Russell only just squeezed into Q3, but rallied to eventually claim sixth, fractions behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Max Verstappen, in the second Red Bull, had to settle for fourth, two-tenths down on his teammate.
The Ferraris will start second and third with Bahrain winner Leclerc qualifying second and Carlos Sainz taking third.
Fernando Alonso was seventh in the second Alpine entry.