F1: Perez wins pole in Jeddah after Verstappen’s drive shaft breaks

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Max Verstappen appeared to have the pole in his pocket for the Saudi Arabian GP in Jeddah, but his right drive shaft broke in Q2.

It sounded a lot like a transmission issue for the Dutchman, who had taken a new gearbox for this weekend, but there were reports of a broken half shaft.

Verstappen led Q1 by 0.500s over his Red Bull Honda teammate, but will start 15th for the race.

It will be exciting to see him come through the field on Sunday.

After Verstappen broke, Perez was left to pick up the pieces for the Red Bull team. He led Q2 over the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr.

In Q3 Perez put up a time of 1m28.265s on his first run on used red tires to lead Charles Leclerc by 0.492s, then saved his new set and did not try to go faster on his final lap.

“It was tricky, that Q3,” said Perez.  “It’s a shame, Max has been really strong all weekend, as you know, with these cars problems can happen at any time.”

Charles Leclerc was 2nd quick, 0.155s behind Perez but will take a 10-place grid penalty, moving Fernando Alonso in the #14 Aston Martin up to the front row on the grid.

“Happy, yes and no,” said Leclerc. “On one hand, it’s been a very difficult weekend in terms of pace for us. I’m happy with my lap, I put everything in it. But Red Bull are on another planet. Tomorrow won’t be easy with the ten place grid penalty, starting further back.”

Charles Leclerc

“Qualifying was a weak point in Bahrain but today the car performed very well on one lap,” said a happy Alonso.

“Tomorrow let’s see what we can do, starting on the front row is amazing. We are confident, the car felt very strong, the strongest part on the car is the long run pace so we should be better on Sunday than Saturday.”

George Russell was 4th, but will start 3rd in the #63 Mercedes, 0.592s behind.

Carlos Sainz Jr will start 4th while Lance Stroll will start 5th in the 2nd Aston Martin.

Esteban Ocon will start 6th and Lewis Hamilton, who was beaten by his teammate all weekend, in 7th, almost 1-sec. off the pace.

Lewis Hamilton beaten badly by his teammate in the same car – LAT Images for Mercedes

More to follow……

Qualifying Results

POS. DRIVER NAT. TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3
1 Sergio Perez MEX Oracle Bull Racing 1m29.244s 1m28.635s 1m28.265s
2 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari 1m29.376s 1m28.903s 1m28.420s
3 Fernando Alonso ESP Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant 1m29.298s 1m28.757s 1m28.730s
4 George Russell GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 1m29.592s 1m29.132s 1m28.857s
5 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari 1m29.411s 1m28.957s 1m28.931s
6 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant 1m29.335s 1m28.962s 1m28.945s
7 Esteban Ocon FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team 1m29.707s 1m29.255s 1m29.078s
8 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 1m29.689s 1m29.374s 1m29.223s
9 Oscar Piastri AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m29.706s 1m29.378s 1m29.243s
10 Pierre Gasly FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team 1m29.890s 1m29.411s 1m29.357s
11 Nico Hulkenberg GER MoneyGram Haas F1 Team 1m29.547s 1m29.451s
12 Zhou Guanyu CHN Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake 1m29.654s 1m29.461s
13 Kevin Magnussen DEN MoneyGram Haas F1 Team 1m29.744s 1m29.517s
14 Valtteri Bottas FIN Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake 1m29.929s 1m29.668s
15 Max Verstappen NED Oracle Red Bull Racing 1m28.761s 1m49.953s
16 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri 1m29.939s
17 Alex Albon THA Williams Racing 1m29.994s
18 Nyck de Vries NED Scuderia AlphaTauri 1m30.244s
19 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m30.447s
20 Logan Sargeant USA Williams Racing 2m08.510s