Formula 1 in Saudi Arabia: Max Verstappen unexpectedly retires at the halfway point!

Qualification process

The third part, Q3, for which 12 min.

In the last part of the qualification, in which M. Verstappen no longer started, F. Alonso was the first to jump to the top, after that Ch. Leclerc took the leading role. Finally, S. Perez overtook the Monaco by half a second. So Sunday’s race will be very interesting, because M. Verstappen and Ch. Leclerc (from 12th place) will chase the peloton from the end of the line.

Final leaderboard after Q3 (Ch. Leclerc will receive a 10 position start penalty): S. Perez (Red Bull), Ch. Leclerc (Ferrari), F. Alonso (Aston Martin), G. Russel (Mercedes), C. Sainz (Ferrari).

The Jeddah circuit is one of the fastest F1 circuits. 6174 forms a circle. A total of 27 turns. AlphaTauri rider Nyck de Vries had a powerplant change before the stage. Ferrari driver Ch. Leclerc will receive a 10-position starting penalty in Saudi Arabia, because he has already installed the third control unit in his car, and it is allowed to change only two. After the drama in Bahrain, the internal combustion engine and heat engine-generator MGU-H were also replaced. Red Bull has installed a new gearbox and battery for the hybrid system in Sergio Perez’s car. Lando Norris’ McLaren has replaced the entire power unit with a new turbine and both motor-generators after the trouble in Bahrain.

PS It is interesting that F. Alonso’s “pole” was won 11 years ago.

For OSPerez, this is only the second pole position in his career.

The second part Q2, for which 15 min. M. Verstappen’s failure!

F. Alonso immediately demonstrated the absolute best qualifying time (among all participants). Mr. Verstappen initially slipped and showed a result worth only P14. And then the engine (or gearbox) failed! Ch. Leclerc’s penalty of 10 positions is not such a tragedy. Max turned into the garage…

Finally, S. Perez beat F. Alonso by one tenth of a second. The fight for pole position in Q3 will heat up between these drivers. Then they were lined up by Ch. Leclerc, C. Sainz, L. Stroll.

The first part Q1, for which 18 min.

Similar to Bahrain, at the beginning all pilots were a bit slower than in practice. After all, you can break into the top 15 even with a not-so-best time.

Immediately, both Red Bull pilots showed who was the fastest here. F. Alonso could not record the fastest lap for a long time, but in the end he shot to the top four.

Final Leaderboard Q1: M.Verstappen, S.Perez, F.Alonso, L.Stroll, Ch.Leclerc, C.Sainz, N.Hukenberg, G.Russel, G.Zhou, L.Hamilton etc.

Dropped out: L.Sargeant (left last because his wheel was deleted which would have allowed him to take P14), L.Norris, N.de Vries, A.Albon, Y.Tsunoda.

Incidents. L. Norris touched the wall in the circle, and N. de Vries missed the turn at all. L. Sargeant turned around at the end and spoiled a fast lap for several drivers, for example L. Stroll.

Results during training

Fernando Alonso muddied the water already in Bahrain, in the first round. And for good reason, because after Ferrari’s failure, the Spaniard took third place. This is a unique achievement for the Aston Martin team.

Fernando Alonso once again showed what he and the upgraded Aston Martin can do in practice at the fast track in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was fastest on the C4 soft tires in Friday’s first practice, leaving teammate Sergio Perez behind. The third result, as it is easy to predict, was demonstrated by F. Alonso.

In the evening practice on Friday, the fastest racers lined up as follows: M. Verstappen, F. Alonso, S. Perez…

On Saturday, the leaders showed essentially identical results as in Friday’s practice: M.Verstappen (1:28.485), S.Perez (1:29.098), F.Alonso (1:29.483). Next – L. Stroll, L. Hamilton, Ch. Leclerc, L. Norris, etc