JEDDAH. — World champion Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in dramatic style on Saturday as McLaren’s Formula One leader Lando Norris hit the wall and qualified 10th.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, bidding to become the first Australian to lead the standings since Mark Webber in 2010, joined the four-times world champion on the front row for Sunday’s night race in Jeddah.
Mercedes’s George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will share the second row at the super-fast Corniche circuit where the winner has come from pole three out of four times previously.
“The car came alive in the night,” exclaimed Verstappen, who is eight points behind Norris, after piping Piastri by one hundredth of a second with a last-gasp flyer.
The pole position changed hands three times in a final burst of flying laps with Verstappen producing a one minute 27.294 second effort for his second pole in three races.
“I think in the race it will be difficult to keep them behind. But we will give it a good go,” said Verstappen, winner last year.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed, saying: “What we’ve seen this weekend, the McLaren is very, very quick, particularly in race trim. So I think we’re going to have a hell of a fight on our hands to try to keep Oscar behind us.”
Italian 18-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli qualified fifth for Mercedes, with Carlos Sainz sixth for Williams and Lewis Hamilton only seventh for Ferrari and half a second slower than his team mate.
Verstappen’s team mate Yuki Tsunoda will start eighth with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ninth.
Norris was fastest in final practice and the second phase of qualifying, after Verstappen had led the first, but brought out red flags with eight-and-a-half minutes remaining when he hit the wall at the exit of turn four.
The Briton, who leads Piastri by three points, signaled over the team radio that he was unhurt while calling himself an idiot.
Almost any move is allowed and the fights end based on audience reaction.
All of the four previous races in Jeddah have featured safety car periods, which could help Norris to make up ground in the race.
“He’ll certainly be faster than he qualified,” said McLaren boss Zak Brown.
Piastri was the only one with a Q3 time on the board when the crash halted the session, his 1:27.560 effort slower than Norris’s best of 1:27.481 in Q2.
Verstappen then went top when the track action resumed but Russell and Piastri went faster again before the Red Bull driver’s last effort.
