2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
2024 FIA Formula One World Championship
Max Verstappen marched to his first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix pole position three tenths ahead of his nearest challenger but the Bulls were denied a first front-row lockout of the season as Charles Leclerc beat Sergio Pérez to P2 by just 0.016s. Checo will start the race at the high-speed Jeddah Corniche Circuit in P3 next to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
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Reaction From Max
02
Reaction From Checo
1 min
Quali Reaction - Checo
Checo gives us a rundown of Qualifying in Jeddah
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Quali Report
Q1
The Bulls again held fire at the start of Qualifying but with 12 minutes left in the 18-minute session the pair left the garage on soft tyres. Checo immediately jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:28.761. Max was quicker, though, and the Dutchman stopped the clock at 1:28.491 to move to the top of the order.
Leclerc went top in the closing stages with a lap of 1:38.318, 0.173 ahead of Max, but with three minutes left in the session the Bulls went out for their final runs. And it was Max who found the most pace.
The champion crossed the line in 1:28.171 to seal top spot in the opening segment. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll put in a strong final flyer to take P2 just eight hundredths of a second behind the Dutchman, while Leclerc took third. Checo found over a tenth on his final flyer and he climbed to fourth place at the flag, ahead of Alonso.
Heading Out
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Q2
At the start of Q2, Russell was the first to lay down a marker with a lap of 1:28.608, ahead of Norris and Hamilton, but just as Checo was winding up for his first flyer on a new set of soft tyres, the red flags came out. Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg crossed the line to start a lap but almost immediately he began to lose power and the German was eventually forced to pull over in a run-off area and the session was stopped.
After a five-minute delay, running resumed and Max and Checo headed out for the first runs of the session. Checo was the first of the pair across the line and the Mexican, on used tyres, posted a lap of 1:28.539. That was beaten by Max who powered to P1 on a time of 1:28.078 on fresh soft rubber. Alonso, also on fresh tyres, then stole P2 from Checo, just 0.044s behind Max, while Leclerc took fourth on used tyres.
As the Bulls headed out for their final flyers, Max found a slim improvement of 0.045s to seal top spot, just eight hundredths of a second ahead of Leclerc with Alonso a further one hundredth of a second back in third. Piastri was fourth for McLaren ahead of Russell and although Checo improved to 1:28.467 it was only good enough for P6 just ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Getting Warmed Up
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Q3
In the opening runs of Q3 Max laid down a strong marker, posting a lap of 1:27.472 to take provisional pole, an impressive 0.335s ahead of Checo who took P2 0.181s clear of Alonso, with Leclerc, who complained that his car felt “really weird” on new soft tyres, in P4.
For the final time in the session, the Bulls left the garage with three minutes left and this time neither Bull could improve on the first run. Max crossed the line just under two tenths off his opening time and behind him Checo also had to settle for his first lap time. That left both open to attack and it was Leclerc who found the biggest improvement. The Ferrari driver couldn’t match Max and Leclerc’s 1:27.791 left him 0.319 behind. It was, however, good enough to deny the Bulls a front-row lockout, with Checo being edged out to P3 by 0.016s. Checo will therefore start on the front of row two alongside Alonso, with Piastri in fifth place ahead of Russell and Hamilton. Tsunoda will start in P9 for RB ahead of Hamilton.
Your Front Three For Tomorrow
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How The Bulls Performed
Rank
Driver
Team
Time
Gap
2
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1:27.791
+0.319
3
Oracle Red Bull Racing
1:27.807
+0.335
4
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin
1:27.846
+0.374
5
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
1:28.089
+0.617
6
Lando Norris
McLaren
1:28.132
+0.660
7
George Russell
Mercedes
1:28.316
+0.844
8
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:28.460
+0.988
9
Yuki Tsunoda
Visa Cash App RB
1:28.547
+1.075
10
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
1:28.572
+1.100
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Behind The Lens For Quali
Heading Out
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Flashing Down The Main Straight
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Max Pushing It In Q3
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Getting Warmed Up
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