F1 qualifying

Sergio Perez has taken the second pole of his F1 career following a dramatic session in Saudi Arabia that saw Oscar Piastri ninth best.

The Mexican will therefore start on pole, joined on the front row by Alonso as Leclerc falls to 12th courtesy of a 10-place grid penalty. The Aussie logged a 1:29.710s, a time on par with his Qualifying 1 lap and 0.4s down on that which propelled him into the session’s final phase. Piastri improved to seventh best as the chequered flag waved, dropping only to ninth to book his place in Qualifying 3 for the first time in his career. Zhou Guanyu was the first to set a time in the session, but it was Alonso who laid down the first proper marker. The Mercedes was on the line the Ferrari ideally needed, delaying his progress and ruining his lap. The Dutchman was pushing on before the revs suddenly increased on approach to Turn 13, suggesting a transmission issue. Sargeant’s session ended without a representative lap as he stopped on track having clouted the kerbing heavily while on his final flying lap. That netted a 1:29.706s to shoot up to 11th to progress to the next phase of qualifying. He was quickly pushed into it as others improved though the Australian was on a final flying lap. Fernando Alonso had a spin at Turn 2 after asking too much from the rear end on exit to leave the Spaniard without a time with seven minutes to run. The Brit had brushed the wall at the apex of the final turn, swiping the front left wheel on the barrier before promptly returning to the pits. Perez headed Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso at the end of the session while Max Verstappen was eliminated in Qualifying 2 with a driveshaft issue.

Sergio Perez claimed pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix during an action-packed qualifying session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after team ...

The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will begin at 2000 local time on Sunday night. You never know with these cars, reliability issues can hit you at any time.” – Sergio Perez, Red Bull. Max has been really strong the whole weekend and hopefully tomorrow we can have both cars up there. “It was tricky, that Q3, especially not getting that second lap. Nailing that lap, you really feel the Formula 1 cars coming alive in this place and just maximising that lap was very important because with the issue we had in the final run, it was really important as the track was improving. Verstappen limped back to the pits in a bid to rescue the situation, but with only half a dozen minutes on the clock, there was little his mechanics can do – meaning he hopped out of the cockpit, and out of Q2, down in 15th position. Alonso placed third with another strong outing in his Aston Martin but will be the first beneficiary of Leclerc’s drop from P2 to P12, joining Perez on the front row and setting up a tantalising run down to Turn 1 on Sunday. When the green light switched back on at the end of the pit lane for the start of Q2, it was Alonso who made the first move and stormed to the top of the timesheets with a 1m 28.757s – marginally quicker than the time posted by Q1 pace-setter Verstappen. Piastri and Gasly were the other two drivers to progress to Q3, meaning the two Alfa Romeos (of Zhou and Bottas) and two Haas machines (of Hulkenberg and Magnussen) joined the frustrated Verstappen as Q2 eliminees. It was a messy second F1 qualifying session for Logan Sargeant, who lost his first lap for exceeding track limits, spun out during his second effort and finally encountered a technical problem on his final attempt – leaving him at the back of the grid without a time. Moments later, Sargeant had the biggest moment of Q1 when he spun at the high-speed Turn 22/23 and stopped perilously close to the barriers, leaving him in a rush to post a lap time after also losing his first effort due to track limits. AlphaTauri lost both of their cars in Q1, with Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries taking P16 and P18 respectively – the latter ruing a mistake at the final corner of his final lap after missing FP3 due to a power unit change.

Follow qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP live. Keep up to date with everything that happens during qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

[Charles Leclerc](/formula-1-drivers/charles-leclerc) second fastest, but set for a 10 place grid drop, meaning Fernando Alonso is set to line up P2. [Max Verstappen](/formula-1-drivers/max-verstappen) looked set to cruise to another P1 start, but a driveshaft failure put him out in Q2. [Sergio Perez](/formula-1-drivers/sergio-perez) on Formula 1 pole position in Saudi Arabia after a dramatic qualifying session in Jeddah.

Sergio Perez claimed pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen made a shock early exit from qualifying following ...

"Yeah I mean it's a shame because Max has been really strong the whole weekend," Perez said. We have seen a lot of crazy things. [Stream the biggest moments on NOW](https://www.nowtv.com/promo/sky-sports?dcmp=articlelink) Norris paid the price for his error, as he was able to get back to the pits, but not make it back out on track after clipping the wall. McLaren's Lando Norris made a Q1 exit after hitting the wall on a flying lap, but his rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri took a highly-impressive ninth as he showed the signs of the superstar potential that many in the paddock believe he possesses. Sergio Perez claimed pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen made a shock early exit from qualifying following a mechanical failure.

Sergio Perez takes pole for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, after Max Verstappen dropped out with a problem.

[Max Verstappen](/formula-1-drivers/max-verstappen) will start from outside the top ten after [suffering from a driveshaft problem during Q2](https://racingnews365.com/verstappen-drops-out-of-saudi-arabia-qualifying). [Fernando Alonso](/formula-1-drivers/fernando-alonso) and [George Russell](/formula-1-drivers/george-russell). [To news overview](/f1-news)© Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull's Sergio Perez took pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as team-mate Max Verstappen suffered a technical failure in Q2 that means he starts ...

[PrimePrimeFormula 1Bahrain GP ](/f1/news/how-aston-martin-and-alonso-can-save-f1-2023-from-red-bull-domination/10440926/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/how-ecclestones-new-f1-documentary-defies-expectations/10441815/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1Bahrain GP ](/f1/news/how-did-the-2023-f1-rookies-fare-in-bahrain/10441280/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/how-a-dynamic-design-tool-has-grown-in-f1-importance/10442017/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/why-mercedes-is-fronting-up-to-its-f1-mistakes-too-much/10443160/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/why-a-mercedes-u-turn-couldnt-deny-saubers-f1-debut-surprise/10443406/) [McLaren](https://www.motorsport.com/team/mclaren/10/)’s [Lando Norris](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/lando-norris/289316/) hit the wall on the inside of the final corner, sending him into the pits with steering and suspension damage, while Alonso spun at Turn 2 before going third quickest and [Logan Sargeant](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/logan-sargeant/289607/) rotated his [Williams](https://www.motorsport.com/team/williams/13/) at the high-speed Turn 22, amazingly without hitting the wall. [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/testing-times-for-vasseur-but-the-true-challenge-at-ferrari-is-about-to-come/10444080/) Russell briefly took P2 for Mercedes, 0.115s off Leclerc, before Perez slammed in a 1m28.265s to take provisional pole by almost half a second. Perez lapped a tenth off Alonso to take P2, ahead of Leclerc. [PrimePrimeFormula 1Saudi Arabian GP ](/f1/news/how-the-f1-driver-expression-saga-continues-to-have-a-lineker-like-problem/10443737/) [Nyck de Vries](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/nyck-de-vries/19622/) ( [AlphaTauri](https://www.motorsport.com/team/toro-rosso/12/)) had a huge spin on his first attempt.

Aussie Piastri stuns F1 with epic quali as Mad Max 15th on bonkers day: Wrap.

He left the garage, walked away to the weigh-room and out of qualifying as the team diagnosed a drive shaft problem. The Q2 segment began with Alfa Romeo and Haas leading the queue ahead of the Aston Martins. It will be tricky now to get to the front so have to concentrate on points, but anything is possible at this track.” “Hopefully, Max will be able to fight through in the race and we can enjoy a good result. “It’s an engine problem,” he said, as he made slow progress. His tyres, however, were gone for a flying lap. With Leclerc facing a 10-place grid penalty, his rivals sensed a rare chance for pole, Alonso attacking his lap, Leclerc outpacing him and then Perez going top in 1:28.265 - half a second clear of the Ferrari. This left Alonso on top ahead of Perez, who returned to try and restore some pride for Red Bull on a second run, clocking 1:26.635 to beat him by a tenth ahead of the two Ferraris. “It’s almost not accelerating.” “Good job guys,” said Perez. As a result of Leclerc’s penalty, two-time champion Fernando Alonso will start from the front row of the grid for Aston Martin alongside Perez after winding up third fastest ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Carlos Sainz, who was fifth in the second Ferrari. Lance Stroll was sixth in the second Aston Martin ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes and rookie Oscar Piastri of McLaren.