F1 Saudi Arabia Qualifying: Sergio Perez on pole position for first time

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez takes pole position in Saudi Arabia for the first time in his F1 career, after Haas’ Mick Schumacher suffered a horrific crash at turn 12 which saw the German driver airlifted to hospital.

How qualifying unfolded…

Q1

As the light went green, to start the first qualifying third of the weekend, both Haas’ were the first drivers to venture out onto the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. As such, Magnussen topped the timing sheets ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo respectively. 

While all the drivers ventured out onto the track with the red-ringed soft compound tyres, the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were out with the yellow-striped medium tyres on.

Carlos Sainz looked to set one of the fastest laps but the Spaniard was forced to abandon the lap after the red flag was waved, as the Williams of Nicholas Latifi crashed out at turn 13. The Canadian lost his rear tyres as he went into the banked corner and his FW44 slid across the run-off area before the nose of the car made contact with the barrier before pivoting around and slamming into another barrier.

The medical car was deployed after the big crash and Latifi was sent immediately to the trackside medical center to be checked out.

When the session could get back underway, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ventured back out onto the Saudi track with used soft tyres and set the benchmark for his teammate, Sergio Perez and Ferrari duo to beat with a 1:29.330. However, this was beaten by both Ferrari’s as Carlos Sainz topped the session with a 1:28.855.

Despite poor performances throughout the weekend, Russell managed to squeeze his Mercedes W13 into the top five as he split Verstappen and Perez, in P4. While Hamilton could only manage P13, 1.6 seconds off the pace. However, the seven-time world champion was soon dropped into the elimination zone – P16.

In a shocking exit, Hamilton couldn’t get out of the drop zone and could only manage to secure 16th fastest.

Eliminated

20. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

19. Nicholas Latifi, Williams

18. Nico Hulkenberg, Aston Martin

17. Alexander Albon, Williams

16. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Q2

In a similar fashion to Q1, Haas’ Mick Schumacher led the pack out of the pit lane as the exit light went green.

When the bulk of the remaining drivers completed their first lap times, Leclerc remained out in front ahead of Perez, Verstappen and Sainz respectively. While the remaining Mercedes of George Russell managed to hold onto P6, on the medium tyres.

Ricciardo was soon put under investigation, which would take place after the session, after he allegedly impeded Esteban Ocon who was on a fast lap. This in addition to another incident between the Australian and Magnussen, for an unsafe release.

Another red flag was quickly brought out after Schumacher had a horrible shunt into a concrete barrier at turn 12. The Haas made contact with the barrier, carbon fiber erupted into pieces as his tyres flew off the car as it dragged itself to a halt along the barrier.

An ambulance quickly placed at the scene of the crash. Fortunately, the German driver was reportedly responding to Dr. Ian Roberts who on scene before he was lifted out of the car and placed into the ambulance.

After a long – and reasonable – wait, the session was back underway with less than four minutes to go.

Both McLarens failed to progress into Q3 in while Russell just scraped his way into the final qualifying third by just two-hundredths of a second.

Eliminated

15. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

14. Mick Schumacher, Haas

13. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo

12. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren

11. Lando Norris, McLaren

Q3

In the shootout for pole position, Leclerc set the benchmark to beat after the Monegasque but it was soon beaten by Sainz who set a 1:28.402. A time both Red Bull’s couldn’t match – although Verstappen took an additional lap to prepare his soft tyres.

As a result, the reigning world champion could only manage to place himself P6, behind both Alpines of Ocon and Fernando Alonso who were in P4 and P5 respectively.

Russell, the only Mercedes still in qualifying, was able to split the Alpines after the Briton put in a tidy lap to place himself P5 after his first run. While the former Mercedes driver, Bottas was able to secure P6.

However, Leclerc was able to return to the top of the timing sheets – on provisional pole – but he was pipped to pole by Perez, for the first time in his F1 career after 215 races – a new record for the longest wait for a drivers maiden pole position.

In the process, Perez became the first Mexican F1 driver to ever achieve the top grid spot.

Top 10

10. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

9. Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri

8. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

7. Fernando Alonso, Alpine

6. George Russell, Mercedes

5. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

4. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

3. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

1. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

After the nasty crash which involved the Haas of Mick Schumacher, during Q2 of F1’s qualifying session in Saudi Arabia, Apex Motorsports hopes that he is okay and has a speedy recovery!

That’s it for the article: ‘F1 Saudi Arabia Qualifying: Sergio Perez on pole position for first time.’ What do you think, is the Jeddah Corniche Circuit too quick to be a safe street circuit? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula One here!

• F1 Saudi Arabia FP3: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc tops final practice
• F1: 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Preview
• F1 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying: Charles Leclerc takes pole position
• F1 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix: Max Verstappen tops final practice session

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