Unstoppable: Max Verstappen destroyed the competition and takes pole position in Saudi Arabia.

Max Verstappen dominated qualifying in Jeddah and will start from pole position in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix of Formula 1. No one had arguments to face the three-time world champion, who once again has the supremacy in this second round of the year. The summary of qualifying Prevented from participating in this qualifying after the spectacular accident in the third free practice, Guanyu Zhou (Kick Sauber/Ferrari) was immediately relegated to 20th place on the grid if he participates in the GP. Therefore, there were four elimination spots to escape in Q1. And the eliminated ones ended up not being surprising. Logan Sargeant (Williams/Mercedes) only managed 19th and Alpine continues in bad form with Esteban Ocon in 17th and Pierre Gasly in 18th. Valtteri Bottas was Sauber’s only hope, but the Finn ended up in 16th and missed out on qualifying by mere 72 milliseconds – he finished behind Alexander Albon (Williams/Mercedes). At the top of the table was Verstappen (Red Bull), who was 0.079s faster than Lance Stroll (Aston Martin/Mercedes).

The Q2 had an early setback: Nico Hülkenberg (Haas/Ferrari), affected by a technical issue that left him stranded in an escape route when no one had set a time yet. The situation caused a red flag interruption.

As the session resumed, it didn’t take long for Verstappen to take the lead. He would end up in that position again, this time with a 79-millisecond lead… but this time against Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).

With Hülkenberg out of the running, one of the eliminated was already found. They were joined by Daniel Ricciardo (Visa Cash App RB F1 Team) in 14th, behind Kevin Magnussen (Haas/Ferrari) and Albon, as well as Oliver Bearman. Called at the last minute by Ferrari to replace the unavailable Carlos Sainz (due to appendicitis), the 18-year-old British driver finished 11th, just 36 milliseconds shy of the last spot in Q2 obtained by Yuki Tsunoda (Visa Cash App RB F1 Team).

Q2 CLASSIFICATION

Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso… bring on Q3! #F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/iLoCgtzKgc

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 8, 2024

In Q3, it quickly became clear that there was a serious risk of not having a real discussion for pole position: Verstappen wasted no time in taking the lead convincingly, with a significant margin on the first attempt.

The Dutchman was never dethroned, setting the pole position time at 1m27.472s. With his final attempt, Leclerc came close to being second at a distance of 0.319s. Sergio Pérez was third in the other Red Bull, 0.335s behind. Alonso finished fourth at 0.374s, followed by Oscar Piastri (McLaren/Mercedes).

The other McLaren driver, Lando Norris, secured sixth place on the grid, ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Tsunoda was ninth, while Stroll will start from tenth.

Results: