Sergio Pérez had to wait 215 races for his first pole position, but in Saudi Arabia 2022 the time had come: The Red Bull driver secured first place on the grid for the first time in his Formula 1 career and thus also the best for the first time Starting place for a Mexican.
And: For the first time since Imola 2021, he was able to beat teammate Max Verstappen in a real qualifying duel – it was also the second race of the season back then.
Surprisingly, the Dutchman only starts from fourth place and had to let the two Ferrari drivers sit between Pérez and himself.
Pérez himself had initially only finished third after Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc after the first attempt at Q3, but at the crucial moment he was able to improve again and finally secured pole position after Leclerc improved by 0.025 seconds.
And the lap was a special one: “I can still do 1,000 laps and I don’t think I could improve,” he laughs. According to him, what differentiates it from the first Q3 run was the precision and risk with which he completed the lap. “I managed all corner entrances. But the risk was enormous. It could have easily gone wrong.”
Helmut Marko: Special bonus for Sergio Pérez
The fact that it worked out for the Mexican in the end also surprised the command post at Red Bull. “We joked before that if he’s on pole there, he gets an extra bonus. We’ll have to see how that works now,” says motorsport consultant Helmut Marko on “Sky”. “But we’ll sort that out somehow.”
The Austrian was quite impressed by the “fantastic lap”. “He warmed up the tires really well and he was strong all weekend, just close to Max,” he says. “That was a top performance, absolutely flawless and at the limit.”
And that on a route as difficult as Jeddah, which poses a challenge to many pilots. “Well, I don’t know how many Grand Prix he has driven, and then he takes pole position here on such a difficult circuit. You can only congratulate him,” says Marko.
“If I can get pole here, then anywhere”
“There is no other circuit like this,” agrees Pérez and is self-confident after his performance: “If I can get pole here, then I can get pole anywhere. It’s definitely the most difficult track to set the perfect lap The level of risk, the level of precision that is required here is just immense.”
But all of this needs to be achieved over a total of 50 laps on Sunday in order to be able to win. That would be a redemption and extremely important for Red Bull after the disappointment in Bahrain, when both cars retired just before the end.
Pérez knows everyone at Red Bull was disappointed after the season opener. “But the team didn’t hang their heads. We kept pushing,” he says. “We actually had the feeling that we wouldn’t be as strong as in the race. Then being on pole is a good sign.”