Formula 1 qualifying: Red Bull’s Sergio Perez bags first career pole, Lewis Hamilton to start Saudi Arabian GP in 16th
- Sergio Perez grabs top spot at 215th time of asking, while teammate Max Verstappen sits back in 4th
- China’s Zhou Guanyu finishes 13th after again reaching second qualifying, while Mercedes continue to struggle on track
.png?itok=arIb17P0)
Sergio Perez claimed his first Formula One pole at the 215th attempt when the Mexican upstaged Red Bull teammate and world champion Max Verstappen in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday (Hong Kong time).
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joins Perez on the front row with Verstappen on the second row after qualifying in fourth behind the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
Qualifying was marred by a horror crash suffered by Mick Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton’s shock elimination in the opening Q1 session for the first time since 2017.
China’s Zhou Guanyu again showed his promise in the Alfa Romeo, reaching second qualifying and ultimately ending the day 13th. Teammate Valtteri Bottas will start from eighth on the grid.
There was a significant delay to the second stage of qualifying after Schumacher, in his second season in Formula One, bounced off the Jeddah street circuit barrier at around 240kp/h having lost control of his Haas car when clipping a kerb.
Doctors were on the scene quickly, lifting him out of the wreckage of his stricken car into an ambulance.
“We’ve heard that Mick is conscious, out of the car and currently on his way to the medical centre,” his team posted on Twitter.
His car was smashed into two, the rear end including engine and gearbox breaking away from the main monocoque and survival cell on impact.
The 23-year-old son of German F1 legend Michael Schumacher was reported to have been able to remove his own gloves as he departed in an ambulance.
Haas later added that Schumacher appeared “physically fine” and had spoken to his mother, Corrina.
In a statement F1’s governing body the FIA confirmed that an assessment at the medical centre “revealed no injuries”.
It added that Schumacher “has been transferred to King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah, for precautionary checks”.
The session was red-flagged, the in the session after an earlier high-speed collision involving Williams’ Nicholas Latifi in Q1. The Canadian escaped unhurt.
The crash came towards the end of a Q2 session which in a major shock did not feature Hamilton who was knocked out of the first qualifying run for the first time since 2017.
Mercedes’ seven-time world champion has 103 poles to his name, but in a major upset will start Sunday’s race from towards the rear of the grid.
As Q1 drew to a close Hamilton was languishing in 16th with only the top 15 progressing, but failed to make it out of the drop zone with his last flying lap.
He was knocked out of Q1 in Brazil five years ago after a crash but the last time he failed to progress to Q2 on pace alone was at the British Grand Prix in 2009.
Hamilton had struggled throughout practice in his ‘bouncing’ new Mercedes, but new teammate George Russell appeared to overcome that challenge as he progressed with the fourth-best time.
“I struggled with the balance of the car, not where I want to be,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “Unfortunately just went the wrong way with the set up.”
