With just eight points seperating Drivers Championship leader Max Verstappen and reigning champ Sir Lewis Hamilton thanks to back to back wins in Qatar and Brazil all eyes in the Formula One world were on the brand new Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Hamilton and his teammate Valterri Bottas made it an all mercedes front row after Hamilton took back to back poles for only his 1st time this season posting a time of 1:27.511 narrowly beating his Finnish teammate by 0.111 seconds. It was easy for Bottas to get into Q3 for his 100th consecutive time as a Mercedes driver as he had engine problems in Q1 and some leaking oil in Q2. As for now he sits in P2 but we will have to see if those engine issues are bad enough for an engine replacement and a grid penalty.
And a penalty will be costly because starting in P3 is points leader, Max Verstappen, who was on a blistering run at the end of Q3 and had just posted purple sectors in 1&2 before slamming into the wall on the last turn and ending any chance for pole. The crash is sure to sting for Max but the Red Bull driver was showing some serious speed that it had not shown throughout the weekend so they will look to build on that.
Rounding out the top 5 for tomorrows race is Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who overcame a big crash in P2 yesterday and had a steller performace in qualifying and RBR’s Sergio Perex took P5.
Mr. P6 Pierre Gasley stayed true to his nature and took yet another 6th place finidh in qualifying and his steady consistency in the top 10 race in and race out should put him right up there for driver of the year contention. Here is the complete grid order:
1. Hamilton
2. Bottas
3. Verstappen
4. Leclerc
5. Perez
6. Gasley
7. Norris
8. Tsunoda
9. Ocon
10. Giovinazzi
11.Ricciardio
12. Raikkonen
13.Alonso
14. Russell
15. Sainz Jr.
16. Latifi
17. Vettel
18. Stroll
19. Schumaker
20. Mazepin