By Arjan Schouten
What was already a bizarre weekend after a rocket attack near the circuit in Jeddah, also remained a sporty spectacle during qualifying. In his struggling Mercedes, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton failed to make it to Q2 for the first time in nearly five years. P16 for the Brit, so lousy is his W13, which he with viaplay called a ‘nightmare’, now for it. Then it was silent for an hour on the Red Sea, after a huge bang from Mick Schumacher. And once the focus on the new fight between Red Bull and Ferrari was possible, that also ended in a surprise. Not Charles Leclerc, not Carlos Sainz, not Max Verstappen, but Sergio Pérez will start from pole tomorrow in Jeddah. His first pole position in his twelfth season in the premier class.
Watch Schumacher’s hard crash here
A huge surprise in Q3 in Saudi Arabia, where Max Verstappen did not come close to the fastest times after a meager first run in which he slid in all directions. Then the Limburger seemed to start the hunt for both Ferraris, but it was Pérez who improved the most in the final lap. In 1.28.225 he set an extremely fast lap time, two tenths of a second ahead of Leclerc and Sainz who started in 3rd place. Verstappen got stuck on P4.
,,A great feeling, I didn’t really expect to keep up with the Ferraris, but it worked. Hopefully it will also work in the race,” said the Mexican.
View the denouement of the qualification here