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Red Bull’s Sergio Perez claimed a shock maiden pole position in F1 for 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, following a dramatic qualifying session.
Ferrari looked the team to beat in Qualifying after topping FP3 and the first two Qualifying sessions yet at the end of Q3, Perez produced a stunning lap to snatch pole position from Charles Leclerc by 0.025 seconds with Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen rounding out the top four.
Qualifying however was marred by a huge shunt for Haas’ Mick Schumacher during Q2, although the German is reportedly fine despite being sent to hospital for further checks.
Now here is a full roundup of FP3 and Qualifying action in Jeddah.
FP3
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was first out on track but it was Ferrari who set the early pace with Sainz going fastest with 1m 31.011 to head Leclerc by 0.041s, although it was Leclerc who found the most improvement of 1.013s to go top on his second flier with 1m 30.139.
Sainz meanwhile found himself second despite improving on his next two laps until Perez displaced him in the 25th minute with 1m 30.291, whilst Verstappen only managed fourth on his first flier as Leclerc stayed top at the halfway mark.
Verstappen however found extra time on his next lap to go top with 1m 29.768 which remained unbeaten during the qualifying simulations, until Leclerc pipped him by 0.033s at the checkered flag with 1m 29.735 to top the session.
Perez settled for third and 0.098s off Leclerc’s effort ahead of Sainz, Bottas and Esteban Ocon, who rounded out the top six ahead of Gasly who failed to do a late qualifying simulation following a driveshaft failure at the pit exit in the 35th minute.
Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 11th, as Mercedes struggled for speed throughout FP3 with George Russell 14th fastest and competing a bottom six compromised of Mercedes powered cars.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 29.735 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.033 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.098 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.274 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.295 |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.404 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.413 |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.527 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.561 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.680 |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.972 |
| 12 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.030 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.211 |
| 14 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.248 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.332 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.451 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.639 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin | + 1.689 |
| 19 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.794 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.257 |
Qualifying
Q1
Several cars headed out as soon as the pit exit lights went green with Magnussen setting the early benchmark pace of 1m 30.425 ahead of Mick Schumacher.
Nicholas Latifi then crashed at Turn 13 after losing the rear on entry causing him to slam into two separate sets of barriers, which triggered a nine minute red flag and denied Ferrari who were set to go fastest overall.
Once the session resumed, Ferrari leapt to the top of timesheets with Sainz who posted a Q1 topping 1m 28.855, with Verstappen splitting the Spaniard and Leclerc in second.
Down in the elimination zone once everyone had completed a lap time, the bottom five compromised of Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Alex Albon, Latifi and Yuki Tsunoda who failed to set a lap time due to cooling issues.
At the checkered flag, only Ricciardo escaped elimination as Hamilton suffered his first Q1 exit since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix, as the Brit qualified 16th ahead of Albon who outqualified Hulkenberg with Latifi and Tsunoda both filling the last row on the grid.
Q2
Schumacher was first out on track for Q2 as several cars opted to try and get an early banker lap in, due to the risk of a red flag with everyone on used or new softs except for Russell on medium tyres.
Leclerc immediately set the pace with 1m 28.883 ahead of Perez by 0.041s with Verstappen a further 0.021s back in third, whilst Sainz was 0.156s off Leclerc in fourth.
Guanyu Zhou meanwhile headed those who occupied the elimination spots once opening runs were completed, where he was joined by Ricciardo, Magnussen, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon.
Schumacher however caused a second red flag of Qualifying after he lost control of his Haas over the kerbs of Turn 10 and suffered a heavy smash, which caused his Haas to slide across the track and come to a halt at Turn 12.
Haas later reported that Schumacher was flown to hospital for precautionary checks in a tweet.
UPDATE: Mick is physically in a good condition but will be flown by helicopter to hospital for further precautionary check-ups. #HaasF1 #SaudiArabianGP
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) March 26, 2022
The session resumed 57 minutes later with everyone having time for one final lap with Magnussen and Ocon both escaping the drop, whilst Gasly briefly flirted with elimination until he knocked out Lando Norris who starts 11th ahead of Ricciardo, Zhou, Schumacher and Stroll.
Sainz meanwhile topped Q2 with 1m 28.686 from Leclerc.
Q3
Leclerc was first driver out on track ahead of Verstappen and Sainz and the Monegasque proceeded to set the first benchmark time of 1m 28.446 but Sainz went onto provisional pole by 0.044s, having posted 1m 28.402 on his first Q3 flier.
Perez was 0.152s down on Sainz in third as Ocon and Alonso surprisingly rounded out the top five ahead of the final runs, as Verstappen unexpectedly only went sixth quickest with reportedly “zero grip” on his soft tyres.
Russell meanwhile was the last driver to post a flying lap in Q3 and on his first attempt, the Brit delivered 1m 29.109 to go fifth, demoting Alonso to sixth and Verstappen down to seventh which was further lowered to seventh and eighth respectively after Bottas went sixth quickest.
At the checkered flag, Leclerc initially snatched pole with 1m 28.225 but Perez unexpectedly went fastest by 0.025s to snatch a shock maiden pole position, which has come in his 215th official Grand Prix weekend.
Sainz settled for third ahead of Verstappen, Ocon, Russell, Alonso, Bottas, Gasly and Magnussen.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 28.200 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.025 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.202 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.261 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.868 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.904 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | AlphaTauri | + 0.947 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.983 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.065 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.388 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 29.651 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 0.122 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.168 |
| 14 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 0.269 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.358 |
| 16 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m 30.343 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.149 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin | + 0.200 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.474 |
| 20 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | No Time Set |
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