Verstappen nabs pole from Piastri as Norris crashes out; Russell P3, Leclerc P4 foreshadowing hyper-competitive race
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen once again showed that he’s not ready to cede his current championship crown to McLaren or anyone else, as the flying Dutchman laid down a blistering lap on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit to secure pole for Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In a hyper-competitive Saturday Qualifying under the lights of the tight and twisty Jeddah street track, Verstappen’s final flier in Q3 was good enough to pip McLaren’s Oscar Piastri for P1 by a slim .01-seconds. Earlier in that final quali session, Piastri’s teammate and current point leader Lando Norris lost control running over the curbs exiting Turn 4 and binned his car in the walls across from that the exit. Under pressure from not only his teammate Piastri, the dominant winner last week in Bahrain, but also the stubbornly excellent Verstappen, Norris will be forced to start from P10 on the grid at a track where overtaking is extremely difficult.
This is the moment that cost Lando Norris a chance at pole position tonight 😮🔽#F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/QvzYSUYrha
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 19, 2025
Once again, Mercedes’ George Russell capitalized by keeping it clean and putting in a very solid effort good enough for P3. While the Silver Arrows may not quite be ready to take a win on pure pace, Russell certainly shows all the signs of earning one should one or more of the top two come to grief in the race. His rookie Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli also acquitted himself well in P5. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc spilt the Silver Arrows in P4 but teammate Lewis Hamilton was out qualified by the Williams of Carlos Sainz, P6 to P7. Sainz seems to really be getting to grips with his new mount for this season, while Hamilton continues to suffer from inconsistency in the Prancing Horse. The second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda completed qualifying in P8 and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took P9, both ahead of the stricken McLaren of Norris, which will certainly require some overnight repairs.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Saudi Arabian GP:
|
POS |
NO |
DRIVER |
CAR |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
1 |
Max Verstappen |
Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT |
1:27.778 |
1:27.529 |
1:27.294 |
19 |
|
2 |
81 |
Oscar Piastri |
McLaren Mercedes |
1:27.901 |
1:27.545 |
1:27.304 |
18 |
|
3 |
63 |
George Russell |
Mercedes |
1:28.282 |
1:27.599 |
1:27.407 |
16 |
|
4 |
16 |
Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari |
1:28.552 |
1:27.866 |
1:27.670 |
19 |
|
5 |
12 |
Kimi Antonelli |
Mercedes |
1:28.128 |
1:27.798 |
1:27.866 |
17 |
|
6 |
55 |
Carlos Sainz |
Williams Mercedes |
1:28.354 |
1:28.024 |
1:28.164 |
23 |
|
7 |
44 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Ferrari |
1:28.372 |
1:28.102 |
1:28.201 |
20 |
|
8 |
22 |
Yuki Tsunoda |
Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT |
1:28.226 |
1:27.990 |
1:28.204 |
16 |
|
9 |
10 |
Pierre Gasly |
Alpine Renault |
1:28.421 |
1:28.025 |
1:28.367 |
22 |
|
10 |
4 |
Lando Norris |
McLaren Mercedes |
1:27.805 |
1:27.481 |
DNF |
11 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 1PM Eastern here in the States. Expect a real street fight between at least the top four players and it wouldn’t be surprising if an accident-induced Red Flag jumbled things up. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!