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Australia

F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton takes Saudi pole

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, as title rival Max Verstappen crashed at the very last corner of his final lap.

Watch: Starting Grid for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Hamilton will start ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

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Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton on pole from Bottas

Cla Driver Time Gap km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
1'27.511 253.984
2 Finland Valtteri Bottas
1'27.622 0.111 253.662
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen
1'27.653 0.142 253.572
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc
1'28.054 0.543 252.417
5 Mexico Sergio Perez
1'28.123 0.612 252.220
6 France Pierre Gasly
1'28.125 0.614 252.214
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris
1'28.180 0.669 252.057
8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
1'28.442 0.931 251.310
9 France Esteban Ocon
1'28.647 1.136 250.729
10 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
1'28.754 1.243 250.427
11 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
1'28.668 1.157 250.669
12 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
1'28.885 1.374 250.057
13 Spain Fernando Alonso
1'28.920 1.409 249.959
14 United Kingdom George Russell
1'29.054 1.543 249.583
15 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
1'53.652 26.141 195.565
16 Canada Nicholas Latifi
1'29.177 1.666 249.239
17 Germany Sebastian Vettel
1'29.198 1.687 249.180
18 Canada Lance Stroll
1'29.368 1.857 248.706
19 Germany Mick Schumacher
1'29.464 1.953 248.439
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
1'30.473 2.962 245.668

What happened in Q1?

Verstappen set the early bar in Q1, lapping in 1m28.659s, while Hamilton went off at Turn 1 on his first run. After a cruise lap, Hamilton took P1 away with a lap of 1m28.466s.

As the track evolved, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz grabbed the top spot from Hamilton with a lap of 1m28.330s. Verstappen ran again on the same tyres and took P1 back with 1m28.285s, despite a big moment at Turn 2, before Bottas went quickest on 1m28.057s – this despite an engine change since FP3.

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Perez then went fastest at 1m28.021s, as teammate Verstappen was forced to abort his last flying lap due to a huge traffic jam of cars at the final corner, while Bottas – who pipped Perez by 0.036s – reported a severe engine misfire and was forced to pit. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo jumped to third, ahead of Sainz and Verstappen.

Falling at the first hurdle were Nicholas Latifi (Williams), the Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll, and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Q1 results: Perez fastest from Bottas

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 9 1'28.021 252.512
2 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 9 1'28.057 0.036 0.036 252.409
3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 9 1'28.216 0.195 0.159 251.954
4 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 9 1'28.237 0.216 0.021 251.894
5 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 8 1'28.285 0.264 0.048 251.757
6 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 9 1'28.310 0.289 0.025 251.686
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 8 1'28.338 0.317 0.028 251.606
8 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 10 1'28.401 0.380 0.063 251.427
9 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 7 1'28.466 0.445 0.065 251.242
10 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 10 1'28.503 0.482 0.037 251.137
11 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 10 1'28.752 0.731 0.249 250.432
12 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 10 1'28.856 0.835 0.104 250.139
13 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 10 1'28.899 0.878 0.043 250.018
14 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 10 1'28.926 0.905 0.027 249.942
15 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 10 1'28.944 0.923 0.018 249.892
16 Canada Nicholas Latifi
Williams 9 1'29.177 1.156 0.233 249.239
17 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 10 1'29.198 1.177 0.021 249.180
18 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 9 1'29.368 1.347 0.170 248.706
19 Germany Mick Schumacher
Haas 9 1'29.464 1.443 0.096 248.439
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
Haas 8 1'30.473 2.452 1.009 245.668

What happened in Q2?

The pole position hunters started this session using the medium tyre, with Verstappen setting the early pace at 1m27.953s ahead of Perez by 0.222s and Bottas by 0.277s.

Hamilton ran again, and vaulted up to second, 0.115s off Verstappen’s pace. Perez did likewise and went to the top with 1m27.946s – 0.007s quicker than his championship-leading teammate.

Hamilton went for a third push lap and took P1 near the end of the session with a 1m27.712s, ahead of Perez, Verstappen, Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri).

Knocked out at this point were Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa, who hit a dawdling Bottas on his final lap), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and George Russell (Williams).

Sainz was slowest of all, after suffering a huge spin at Turn 10 and brushing the wall with his rear wing. On his final run, he had another massive moment – declaring the car “undriveable” – and he was forced to back out.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest from Perez

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 9 1'27.712 253.402
2 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 9 1'27.946 0.234 0.234 252.727
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 6 1'27.953 0.241 0.007 252.707
4 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 7 1'28.054 0.342 0.101 252.417
5 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 9 1'28.222 0.510 0.168 251.937
6 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 9 1'28.314 0.602 0.092 251.674
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 8 1'28.344 0.632 0.030 251.589
8 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 8 1'28.459 0.747 0.115 251.262
9 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 7 1'28.574 0.862 0.115 250.935
10 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 6 1'28.616 0.904 0.042 250.817
11 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 8 1'28.668 0.956 0.052 250.669
12 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 8 1'28.885 1.173 0.217 250.057
13 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 7 1'28.920 1.208 0.035 249.959
14 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 7 1'29.054 1.342 0.134 249.583
15 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 7 1'53.652 25.940 24.598 195.565

What happened in Q3?

On the first runs, Hamilton suffered a huge slide and had to abort his opening attempt. Bottas set the bar at 1m28.143s, with Hamilton beating him with 1m28.035s.

Verstappen unleashed a 1m27.653s on his first flyer, while Bottas improved to P2 at his second attempt.

On the final runs, Hamilton took P1 with 1m27.511s, 0.111s ahead of Bottas. Verstappen almost clipped the wall exiting Turn 2, but having set the fastest first two sectors, he locked his left-front  entering the final corner, and whacked the wall properly on the exit after seeming all set to take pole.  He was forced to park up with broken suspension.

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Verstappen will start third, ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Perez, Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Lando Norris (McLaren), Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo).

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Q3 results: Hamilton takes pole

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 7 1'27.511 253.984
2 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 9 1'27.622 0.111 0.111 253.662
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 5 1'27.653 0.142 0.031 253.572
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 7 1'28.054 0.543 0.401 252.417
5 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 5 1'28.123 0.612 0.069 252.220
6 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 7 1'28.125 0.614 0.002 252.214
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 5 1'28.180 0.669 0.055 252.057
8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 7 1'28.442 0.931 0.262 251.310
9 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 5 1'28.647 1.136 0.205 250.729
10 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 5 1'28.754 1.243 0.107 250.427
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Edition

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