Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying Results: What Happened In Qualifying

Your Sports Illustrated report of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Qualifying session.

The qualifying sessions for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has ended with Sergio Perez taking pole position for the race tomorrow. 

Following Perez was Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso in second and third, respectively. However, Leclerc is taking a ten-place grid penalty he will start the race tomorrow in [number] place on the grid. 

Standout Moments

Q1

The Williams were the first to get out on the track followed by AlphaTauri, McLaren, and Alfa Romeo. 

Nyck de Vries, who had to miss out on Free Practice 3, had a close call when his car span out during the first couple of laps of the qualifying session. Luckily, he did not crash and managed to save it to continue without a yellow flag.

With 11 minutes to go, Red Bull's Max Verstappen put in an impressive 1:28.761 on soft tyres.

McLaren's Lando Norris had to box after colliding with the track wall which looked to damage his front-left wheel. Closely following Norris's incident, Fernando Alonso span his Aston Martin AMR23.

With just under 5 minutes to go, Logan Sargeant caused a yellow flag due to spinning out. Luckily, he did not collide with the track wall and was able to get back on track quickly. This was shortly after viewers and reporters were left confused as the American driver was told over the team radio that he had a lap deleted for exceeding track limits on turn 27, to which he responded that you physically cannot go off the track at that turn. 

Lando Norris unfortunately did not manage to get back out on track with the team working to fix the damage from his collision so was eliminated in Q1. 

Out in Q1:

1. Yuki Tsunoda
2. Alex Albon
3. Nyck de Vries
4. Lando Norris
5. Logan Sargeant

Q2

Q2 got off to a quick start with Fernando Alonso swiftly putting in a time of 1:28.757 on soft tyres.

Max Verstappen began to encounter engine issues with just over eight minutes to go putting him at risk. Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle said it sounded like a drive issue. The Belgian-Dutch driver put the RB19 into limp home mode to get back into the pits. Chaos ensued in the Red Bull garage as the team had just five minutes to find and fix the problem to keep Verstappen in the running for pole position.

However, when Verstappen pulled into the garage he hopped out of the car confirming he was out of the session.

Out in Q2:

1. Nico Hulkenberg
2. Zhou Guanyu
3. Kevin Magnussen
4. Valtteri Bottas
5. Max Verstappen

Q3

George Russell asked the Mercedes team to check over his W14 for any damage after going over a rumble strip "aggressively" so returned to the pits. 

With just over four minutes to go, Sergio Perez was sitting in provisional pole with a 1:28.265 closely followed by Charles Leclerc. Ferrari will be urging the Monegasque driver to get as high up the board as possible to counter-act the ten-place grid penalty as much as possible. 

Here's how to watch the race.

Saudi Arabia Qualifying Results

(Without Charles Leclerc's ten-place penalty)

1. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (+10)

3. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

4. George Russell, Mercedes

5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

6. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

7. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

8. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

9. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

10. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

11. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

12. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo

13. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

14. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

15. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

16. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

17. Alex Albon, Williams

18. Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri

19. Lando Norris, McLaren

20. Logan Sargeant, Williams