Operation completed: Mercedes conquered the front row with the two W12s in front of everyone in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP. Toto Wolff hits the target he had set himself with Lewis Hamilton’s 103rd pole position who set the track record in an amazing 1’27 “511 on soft tires. At his side will be the faithful Valtteri Bottas who arrived only 111 thousandths from the hepta-champion. The Finn was perfect because he did not disunite when after FP3 they had to replace the engine due to a loss of petrol. The Nordic used an old engine in the availability of Mercedes and did not disfigure , because Valtteri also had the mapping with the maximum usable power available, just like his captain.
Hamilton places the fifth start at the pole of the season, but he has to thank Max Verstappen’s sensational mistake in the last run, because even the super-engine of Brazil would not have been enough for him to contain the Dutchman’s vehemence with the Red Bull RB16B. The power that had given Hamilton wings at Interlagos didn’t make the same difference in Jeddah, where Max’s lighter set-up was about to play a trick on him.
Verstappen had signed extraordinary split times in T1 (31 “900) and T2 (27” 848) which had given him an advantage of over three tenths on Lewis’ pole time and Max ruined everything at the last corner by crashing into the barriers outside. In reality, he had already touched the protections (and it had gone well), but after a small braking block at the last braking he made a mistake that could have a big impact on the season.
Max is third on the grid with a gap of 142 thousandths, but there is a well-founded risk that in the collision he could have damaged the gearbox and if he were forced to replace the transmission he would be forced to pay yet another penalty with five positions on the grid. Verstappen, the impassive, made a serious mistake: he wanted to exaggerate when he already had a pole in his pocket.
Red Bull must review the plans it had prepared, given that Mercedes will be ahead and Sergio Perez is only fifth, preceded by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Furthermore, the black arrows showed a much better pace in the long runs, so it will be up to Max to recover from the mistake made.
Leclerc in the second row is a welcome surprise: the Monegasque had promised that he would repay the team after the super work he forced the team to with yesterday’s crash. The team did an exceptional job and Charles repaid the Scuderia with a fantastic lap that put him ahead of Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly. The redhead showed a good race pace, so Charles will have to keep out of trouble in the early laps and can get some pebbles off his shoes …
The two Honda-powered riders are separated by just 2 thousandths of a second and it took a thrust of the kidneys to keep Lando Norris at bay, seventh with McLaren.
Positive performance of Yuki Tsunoda with the AT02 able to stay in Q3 with an eighth place more than honorable. Closes the top 10 Esteban Ocon with Alpine ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi extraordinary with Alfa Romeo.
The Apulian crawled the wall at the end of Q2 and had to be buttoned up in Q3 otherwise he could have aimed even higher: the Italian has given yet another demonstration of having the talent to deserve F1. to leave Curcus with your head held high.
Daniel Ricciardo does not enter Q3 with McLaren who is only 11th ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who in the last run suffers an involuntary touch by Valtteri Bottas who was in the return lap: fear for Kimi who risked going to the wall and if he got away with a 12th place.
Fernando Alonso did not find the pace with the Alpine: the Spaniard felt George Russell breathe on his neck who tried to find time with the soft, but it was not enough for him to aim for Q3, but the 14th place is the maximum that he could hope.
Carlos Sainz is only 15th: the Spaniard lost his Ferrari in the first run and crossed the curb of turn 9 and went to touch the protections with the rear wing: the side bulkhead folded and the aerodynamics were compromised, but the Madrilenian tried to repeat a lap with the averages, but when he reached the same point he made another cross which advised him to give up, because the redhead didn’t want to go straight. It went well like this …
Nicholas Latifi does not come out of Q1 with Williams: the Canadian is 16th ahead of the two Aston Martins who do not like the Jeddah track. Sebastian Vettel by profession grabs the 17th position in front of teammate Lance Stroll.
The last row does not escape the two Haas: Mick Schumacher managed to close his lap and finished with a gap of 1 “4 from the best time of Q1, while Nikita Mazepin did not complete his run ending up in traffic and was caught a second by the German team-mate. Too bad because otherwise we would have seen one of the shortest grids in F1 history …
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