Max Verstappen continues his roll, without worrying about the tenths that the Ferrari and Aston Martin improved in a fast lap in Saudi Arabia. The Dutchman, once again superior racing in another galaxy, took his second pole of the course, and will have Charles Leclerc as his main threat. Fernando Alonso will start fourth, after getting just 374 thousandths behind the three-time champion.
Madrid's Carlos Sainz, who underwent appendicitis surgery this Friday in Jeddah, did not take part in the qualifying session. He was replaced by the Ferrari Academy driver Oliver Bearman, from F2, who achieved a creditable eleventh place (he had been 10th in the last free practice), out of Q3 by only 36 thousandths.
The young 18-year-old Briton was surprising, as on his first day with the Scuderia he was even able to surpass his teammate Charles Leclerc on the first attempted lap and reach provisional fourth place. The boy showed good hands, saving the embrace of the wall of the Jeddah urban circuit. He set the 9th best time in Q1, dominated, of course, by Max Verstappen, 147 thousandths faster than Leclerc.
Fernando Alonso was fifth, half a second behind the Dutchman, without much prospect of fighting for pole. Nor is Lewis Hamilton who is still far from his best form, 11th.
In the second race (Q2), Verstappen imposed his law of superiority, although Fernando Alonso, third, came within just 89 thousandths of the Dutchman. Second was Leclerc. His teammate Bearman missed the top 10 by just 36 thousandths of a second.
Lewis Hamilton barely made it to Q3, 38 thousandths behind Lance Stroll, ninth. The Englishman was more than half a second behind the Dutch.
In the first attempt of Q3, Verstappen came out to finish with a single lap. He left Checo Pérez at 335 thousandths and the first of the mortals, Alonso, at 516 thousandths. The Asturian was once again the pilot who came closest to the red buffaloes.
The second attempt changed the situation slightly, to the detriment of Alonso, who was overtaken by Charles Leclerc, who went from fourth to second. The Monegasque had a great lap and overtook the Asturian by 55 thousandths, while Checo Pérez and Max Verstappen did not need to improve their respective laps for the Mexican to remain third and the Dutchman first.
Only the presence of Leclerc in second position can hinder another Red Bull double.
“Happy with the weekend. We have been very fast in all the training sessions and in the time trial, with Red Bull and with Ferrari, and we have beaten Mercedes and McLaren. It is a very fast car on one lap, but not so fast on long runs. I am aware that we were the 5th team on the grid in Bahrain and in five days history will not have changed so quickly, so I am in for a difficult race," admitted Alonso.
