Max Verstappen claims pole in Jeddah as Norris crashes out

Max Verstappen claimed a brilliant pole position around the Jeddah Corniche circuit ahead of Oscar Piastri and George Russell, as Lando Norris faltered once again.

It was an incredible lap from Max in the Red Bull to claim pole ahead of Oscar by just 0.010s, whilst George was just a tenth further behind.

Meanwhile, Lando Norris brought out the Red Flag in Q3 after a heavy impact crash. He wasn't able to set a lap time and will start tomorrow's race from P10, and with Jeddah being a tricky place to overtake, the championship leader has a lot of work to do tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Charles Leclerc did enough for P4, Kimi Antonelli impressed again in P5, and Carlos Sainz shone in P6 for Williams. Lewis Hamilton once again struggled as he was nearly 6 tenths of teammate Charles and down in P7.

Yuki Tsunoda continued his upward trajectory in the second Red Bull seat, making it two Q3 appearances in a row, despite ending up nine tenths off Max. He'll start tomorrow's race from P8.

Pierre Gasly made it into Q3 for the second week running; however, he complained of no grip on his final run and couldn't make an impression in the final session.

Williams and Alex Albon continued their trend of going out early for the final run to avoid traffic, but with track evolution and his tyres seemingly falling away towards the end of the lap, the Thai driver missed out on Q3.

Liam Lawson had his best session of the season so far, out-qualifying Isack Hadjar and only just missing out on Q3 by 0.089s.

Lance Stroll continued his retched run of form as he became the driver knocked out most in Q1, overtaking Kevin Magnussen, whilst both Saubers were also knocked out in the first part of qualifying once again.

Esteban Ocon, who had previously never been out-qualified by his teammate in Jeddah, was knocked out in Q1 and will start tomorrow's race from P19. His run of form in qualifying continues to be incredibly inconsistent, whilst Ollie Bearman couldn't put it together on his final flying lap in Q2, and will start tomorrow's race from P15.

Quotes

Max Verstappen: "I’m very happy. I didn’t expect to be on pole here after FP3 and looking at how the week was, but the car came alive in the night and we made some final changes and it was a lot more enjoyable to drive.

"The grip was coming to me, and around here, the qualifying lap is extremely difficult because of all the walls and you need to try and nail it.

"It’s really satisfying to be here in first in qualifying, and it's the best position for tomorrow, even though I think in the race it will be tough to keep them behind, but we’re going to give it a good go.

"We will do our best, so far I’m just very happy that again we had a solid qualifying, much better than in Bahrain, so let’s see what we can do."

Oscar Piastri: "To be honest, I was pretty happy with it. It wasn't too much more left in that lap. Happy with the job I did. We were playing catch-up a little bit through the first part of qualifying, and then that last lap felt more and less like the best I could've done.

"I think Max has done a good job. It's another high-speed circuit for them, where they seem to be having a little bit more success, but a good job again.

"Still all to play for tomorrow. I think our pace is good. It's going to be a tough race, and the tyres are a bit softer than last year, so we'll see if that plays to our advantage.

George Russell: "Before the session I would have definitely taken a P3, but I saw how close it was. I was really happy with the lap, but you always think there might have been a little bit more in there.

"Being realistic, I think this was probably the maximum today, we know on these higher speed circuits we probably don’t quite have the pace of the McLarens, and obviously Max did an amazing job again so congratulations to him.

"It was a tricky session with the red flag in the middle of the session and that one lap at the end was all that counted. It was quite interesting seeing the Red Bull do the two laps, but P3 is a great place to start and it will be a long race tomorrow."

Star of Quali - Carlos Sainz

A brilliant performance from Carlos, who crucially finished ahead of Gasly's Alpine to top the midfield battle.

Flop of Quali - Lando Norris

After a bit of pressure from last week's performance, Lando couldn't hit back. It was a costly error, compounded by the fact that his teammate and title rival will start on the front row. Not only that, but with Verstappen claiming pole, the Dutchman could also pick up a hefty haul of points on Lando.

Full Results

1) Verstappen

2) Piastri

3) Russell

4) Leclerc

5) Antonelli

6) Sainz

7) Hamilton

8) Tsunoda

9) Gasly

10) Norris

11) Albon