The Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez (Red Bull) achieved the fastest time this Saturday and will start the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from pole position on the Jeddah street track, given the performance debacle experienced by his teammate team, world champion Max Verstappen, during Q2, which relegated him to fifteenth place.
The 33-year-old native of Guadalajara set a record of 1m28s265, which allowed him to reach the best start time in the Arab Grand Prix for the second consecutive season. Pérez was just 155 thousandths ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who got the second time, but the Monegasque must penalize ten positions for changing the drive unit. In this way, the second position in the starting grid was for the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who corroborated a good task, with 1m28s730.
Then, the British George Russell (Mercedes) will start in third place, while the second starting row will be completed by the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari). The third row will be comprised of the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and the French Esteban Ocon (Alpine). Further behind will start the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and the German Nico Hulkenberg (Haas).
The second Formula 1 World Cup competition in the 2023 edition will run today from 8:00 p.m. local (2:00 p.m. in Argentina), 50 laps long.