Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying: Verstappen continues perfect start to the season another pole

Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen continued his perfect start to the Formula One season with pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Friday, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc also qualified on the front row.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who won in Jeddah last year in one of only three races Verstappen did not win, qualified third for Saturday's race, which has been moved up a day to accommodate Ramadan.

Verstappen, who won in Jeddah in 2022, will start from the pole position for the first time on the Corniche circuit.

"That was a very lovely qualifying. The car was on rails," the 26-year-old Dutch driver, who won from pole in Bahrain with the fastest lap and led from start to finish, told the team radio.

"Today I felt very comfortable in the car. Throughout qualifying, it was pretty crazy how fast you go around here," he said later.

Verstappen and Leclerc will share the front row for the fourth race in a row on Saturday.

Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin qualified fourth, followed by Oscar Piastri of McLaren in fifth and teammate Lando Norris in sixth.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start seventh and eighth for Mercedes, with Yuki Tsunoda ninth for RB and Lance Stroll rounding out the top ten for Aston Martin.

Oliver Bearman, an 18-year-old British driver, will make his race debut for Ferrari in 11th place after being called up as a late replacement for Carlos Sainz, who developed appendicitis and underwent surgery on Friday.

SportsLigue