Unstoppable to the next record?
Verstappen dominates F1 qualifying in Saudi Arabia
March 8, 2024, 7:28 p.m
Max Verstappen wins Formula 1 qualifying in Saudi Arabia with a big lead. The world champion with his Red Bull is three tenths faster than Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. Teammate Sergio Pérez comes third. Verstappen is racing towards another record.
World champion Max Verstappen will also start the second race of the new Formula 1 season from pole position. The Dutchman in the Red Bull turned the fastest lap in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and in Jeddah he was a good three tenths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez will start the race on Saturday evening in third place (6 p.m. CET/Sky)followed by Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.
Nico Hülkenberg initially had a promising performance in the Haas, but was unable to complete a fast lap in the second part of qualifying due to technical problems and started from 15th place.
Verstappen had already taken first place on the grid at the start in Bahrain a week ago, and this was followed by a very confident victory in the Grand Prix. The RB20 is currently the strongest car with the strongest driver, who also competed against weakened competition: Ferrari was missing its second regular driver, Carlos Sainz had to undergo an appendix operation at short notice.
Will Verstappen break the Verstappen record?
Replacement driver Oliver Bearman moved up and the Formula 2 driver took eleventh place without much warm-up time. On Saturday, the 18-year-old became the youngest Ferrari driver to ever compete in a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
However, Verstappen should have been considered the favorite in the race even against a competition with the best line-up. Already in the training sessions on Thursday he showed an impressive pace on the long runs, the racing simulations. In Jeddah, Verstappen is aiming for his ninth win in a row across all seasons, so he is once again on the hunt for a record: the record is ten wins in a row, which Verstappen set himself last year.
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International accuse Saudi Arabia of sportswashing: With glittering sporting events, such as the F1 GP on Saturday, the kingdom is said to want to hide massive human rights violations.