Formula 1: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Free Practice Three and Qualifying

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Max Verstappen clinches pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix under the lights in Jeddah.

In a dramatic qualifying, Lando Norris suffered a hefty crash on his first lap in Q3, and Oscar Piastri missed out on pole by one-hundredths of a second.

Lando Norris topped the timesheet in Free Practice Three earlier in the day, followed by Oscar Piastri and George Russell.

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Free Practice Three

Top Ten Results
1) Lando Norris       1:27.489
2) Oscar Piastri        +0.024
3) George Russell    +0.627
4) Max Verstappen   +0.845
5) Charles Leclerc    +0.883
6) Alex Albon            +0.900
7) Carlos Sainz         +1.081
8) Pierre Gasly         +1.136
9) Yuki Tsunoda        +1.181
10) Kimi Antonelli     +1.190

Lando Norris topped the timesheet in the final practice session, followed by Oscar Piastri and George Russell.

The practice session took place in the 30-degree sunshine at 16:30 local time. Most drivers stayed in the garages during the early part of the session, except Gabriel Bortoleto, who took to the track immediately after a fuel leak stopped his running in FP2.

Jack Doohan was the first to set a lap time on soft tyres, with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman doing the same. The Aston Martins opted for medium tyre running.

Lewis Hamilton headed out onto the track ten minutes into the session, as did Charles Leclerc, with the rest of the drivers following shortly after.

Drivers ended the session by running on soft tyres for 17 minutes. Norris set a lap time of 1:27.489s clear of Oscar Piastri by 0.024s.

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Qualifying

Q1

Out in Q1
16) Lance Stroll
17) Jack Doohan
18) Nico Hulkenberg
19) Esteban Ocon
20) Gabriel Bortoleto

The McLaren entered the session as favourites, with many people saying it was between Oscar and Lando for pole.

Ocon was the first out in Q1, underway under the lights in Jeddah. Ocon was quickly followed by the rest of the drivers all out on the soft tyre compound. Piastri was the first to top the timesheets after the first runnings with a time of 1m 28.019s, followed by Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

Norris took the top spot from Piastri just as Hadjar had a moment, reporting that he had hit the wall. Doohan, Gasly, Ocon, Lawson and Bortoleto were in the bottom five as the minutes counted down.

Gasly had an issue as he left the garage with a tyre warmer still on his front right tyre, with a member of the crew having the remove.

Verstappen topped the timesheets with a 1m 27.778s lap time, with Hamilton finding himself on the bubble but managed to put in a lap time good enough to make it through.

Stroll, Doohan, Hulkenberg, Ocon and Bortoleto were knocked out in Q1.

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Q2

Out in Q2
11) Alex Albon
12) Liam Lawson
13) Fernando Alonso
14) Isack Hadjar
15) Oliver Bearman

Alex Albon was the first out on track in Q2, with Lawson being noted for an unsafe release in the pit lane, but the stewards later dismissed it.

Norris topped the timesheet during the first few runs with a lap time of 1m 27.481s, with a fourth-hundredths clear of Verstappen. Verstappen, however, was on the radio asking the team to check the plank of his car after he hit a kerb.

Antonelli was on the bubble but improved to fifth, with Sainz in sixth and Hamilton was at risk.

During the final running, Hamilton put in a lap time good enough to make it through, as Alex Albon was moved into 11th, missing out on Q1 by 0.007s.

Alex Albon, Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman were knocked out in Q2.

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Q3

Starting Top Ten
1) Max Verstappen          1:27.294
2) Oscar Piastri               1:27.304
3) George Russell           1:27.407
4) Charles Leclerc           1:27.670
5) Kimi Antonelli               1:27.866
6) Carlos Sainz                1:28.164
7) Lewis Hamilton            1:28.201
8) Yuki Tsunoda               1:28.204
9) Pierre Gasly                 1:28.367
10) Lando Norris               DNF

Both McLarens were first out on track and Oscar Piastri was the first to set a lap time.

However, just as Oscar crossed the finish line to end his lap, Lando Norris had a small moment over the kerbs, which sent him into the barriers at the exit of Turn 5, ending his session and bringing out the red flag. Lando reported that he was ok.

With just over eight minutes left in the session, the clock started, and everyone got back onto the track again. It looked like Oscar was on track for pole position, with all drivers opting to do just one flying lap in a one-lap shoot-out.

Russell was the first to put himself into P1 but was knocked out by Piastri and then Verstappen at the very last moment, with Verstappen taking pole by 0.010s.

Max Verstappen took pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri in second, George Russell in third, Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli rounding out the top five.

​"[I'm] very happy," said Verstappen. "I definitely didn’t expect to be on pole here, especially after FP3 looking at how the whole weekend was. The car came alive in the night, we made some final changes and it was a lot more enjoyable to drive, the grip was coming to me and around here a Qualifying lap is extremely difficult because of all the walls, you need to try and nail it.

​"It’s really satisfying to be first here in Qualifying which is of course the best position for tomorrow, even though I think tomorrow in the race it will be tough to keep them behind but we’re going to give it a good go."

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Written by Anny Wooldridge