Sergio Perez inches out maiden F1 pole position in Saudi Arabia
Sergio Perez claimed his first ever Formula One pole position in a last-ditch lap that capped an interrupted qualifying session in Saudi Arabia.
Sergio Perez celebrates his maiden pole position in Formula 1. (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)
The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had held a consistent lead through the three phases of qualifying, before being bested by the Red Bull driver as he registered a time of 1:28.200 in his final attempt.
"Well, it took me a couple of races, but what a lap, man," said Perez.
"Unbelievable."
"I could do 1000 laps and I don't think I could beat that lap."
"It was unbelievable."
Teammate Max Verstappen could only manage fourth, making it Red Bull-Ferrari-Ferrari-Red Bull on the first two rows.
Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc after qualifying in Saudi Arabia. (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc said he wasn't expecting Perez to strike with a faster lap.
"The lap felt good honestly," said Leclerc.
"I'm very happy with the lap."
"All qualifying it was all about just keeping it on track and not doing any mistakes, which would have been very costly, and then in Q3 in a second lap, I just went for it and I more or less put everything together."
"There's a bit here and there, but, yeah, I definitely did not expect Checo to come with that lap time, so congratulations to him."
"And I'm pretty sure he did an incredible job today. "
Lewis Hamilton exited the session in 16th, a low blow for the seven-time world champion whose Mercedes team has had difficulty adapting to the new era of F1 regulations.
Nicholas Latifi was out in Q1 after losing control in turn 13 and hitting the barriers.
Q2 was delayed for almost an hour when Mick Schumacher went into the barriers at high-speed.
It took a considerable amount of time to extricate the Haas driver, who was taken to hospital for further checks and will miss Sunday's Grand Prix.
"I think it was so difficult this qualifying because if you remember, in Q2, we stopped like for half an hour," said Perez.
"Just keeping your head, keeping in focus, it's quite difficult and it's a lot of time that you have to stay focused to be thinking what you have to do to make sure you put that perfect lap and I put it when it mattered."
McLaren's woes continued in Jeddah, with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo leaving Q2 in 11th and 12th respectively.
"I think there is no other circuit like this," said polesitter Perez.
"If I can get pole here, I can get pole anywhere in the world."
"So this is definitely the most demanding place to get the perfect lap, you know, the level of risk, the level of precision you’ve got to have around this place is just tremendous."
The Formula 1 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix gets underway Monday 4am AEDT on Kayo Sports in Australia, or Monday 6am NZDT on Spark Sport in New Zealand.
