Aston Martin on the front row
Defect throws Verstappen far back in F1 qualifying
03/18/2023 7:03 p.m
Qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is extremely unfortunate for Max Verstappen. The Formula 1 world champion is the clear favorite but has to park his car early. Team-mate Sergio Perez secures pole position in front of a Ferrari that has to move backwards.
Sergio Perez wins qualifying for the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver set the fastest time of 1:28.265 minutes in the decisive third section on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, thus securing pole position. Charles Leclerc is only 0.155 seconds slower in the Ferrari, but has to go a long way back for the race on Sunday (6 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de). As at the start of the season, the Scuderia had to change engine parts for the runner-up world champion and thus already exceeded the permitted quota – for Leclerc it is 10 positions back to 12th place on the grid due to the resulting penalty.
The place next to Perez goes to Fernando Alonso, who underlines the impressive upward trend at Aston Martin. The Spaniard missed the best time by 0.465 seconds. The former team of the retired Sebastian Vettel is preparing to challenge Ferrari as the second force behind Red Bull. Especially since the Aston Martin’s racing pace seems to be even stronger than the speed on a fast lap.
Only fourth force is currently Mercedes, but George Russell (4th / +0.592) beats Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari (5th / +0.680). Lewis Hamilton is significantly slower (+0.958) and has to settle for eighth, behind Alonso teammate Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon in the Alpine in sixth and seventh. They all advance in the starting line-up due to the Leclerc penalty.
Hulkenberg misses Q3 by a touch
Max Verstappen, on the other hand, experienced a bitter disappointment. The winner of the opening race had to park his Red Bull in the second part of qualifying and rolled slowly into the pits. He had previously radioed an “engine problem” to the command post, the onboard recordings suggested a mechanical defect. Although he brings the RB19 back to the garage, there is nothing left to repair there.
Verstappen will now have to start the race from 15th place on the grid. A long way to victory – in Belgium, however, the double world champion had achieved success from 14th place. In the run-up to qualifying, the Dutchman set the best time in all three training sessions and seemed unbeatable. Now he has to catch up if he wants to keep the lead in the drivers’ standings. In addition, he is already in danger of losing sight of the Michael Schumacher record from 2002 at the second Grand Prix of the season. The German motorsport icon finished on the podium in all 17 races on his way to his fifth world championship title.
Meanwhile, Nico Hülkenberg narrowly missed the leap into Q3 and thus the top ten. The 35-year-old won the Haas duel with Kevin Magnussen again, but Alpine pilot Pierre Gasly pushed the German out of tenth place by 0.04 seconds in the final seconds of Q2. Hülkenberg is eleventh, two positions ahead of Magnussen. On the starting grid, Hülkenberg also benefits from Leclerc being moved back and moves up to 10th place on the grid.