F1: Perez wins pole in Jeddah after Verstappen’s drive shaft breaks

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Max Verstappen appeared to have the pole in his pocket for the Saudi Arabian GP in Jeddah, but his right drive shaft broke in Q2.

It sounded a lot like a transmission issue for the Dutchman, who had taken a new gearbox for this weekend, but there were reports of a broken half shaft.

Verstappen led Q1 by 0.500s over his Red Bull Honda teammate, but will start 15th for the race.

It will be exciting to see him come through the field on Sunday.

After Verstappen broke, Perez was left to pick up the pieces for the Red Bull team. He led Q2 over the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr.

In Q3 Perez put up a time of 1m28.265s on his first run on used red tires to lead Charles Leclerc by 0.492s, then saved his new set and did not try to go faster on his final lap.

“It was tricky, that Q3,” said Perez.  “It’s a shame, Max has been really strong all weekend, as you know, with these cars problems can happen at any time.”

Charles Leclerc was 2nd quick, 0.155s behind Perez but will take a 10-place grid penalty, moving Fernando Alonso in the #14 Aston Martin up to the front row on the grid.

“Happy, yes and no,” said Leclerc. “On one hand, it’s been a very difficult weekend in terms of pace for us. I’m happy with my lap, I put everything in it. But Red Bull are on another planet. Tomorrow won’t be easy with the ten place grid penalty, starting further back.”

“Qualifying was a weak point in Bahrain but today the car performed very well on one lap,” said a happy Alonso.

“Tomorrow let’s see what we can do, starting on the front row is amazing. We are confident, the car felt very strong, the strongest part on the car is the long run pace so we should be better on Sunday than Saturday.”

George Russell was 4th, but will start 3rd in the #63 Mercedes, 0.592s behind.

Carlos Sainz Jr will start 4th while Lance Stroll will start 5th in the 2nd Aston Martin.

Esteban Ocon will start 6th and Lewis Hamilton, who was beaten by his teammate all weekend, in 7th, almost 1-sec. off the pace.

More to follow……

Qualifying Results