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As the weekend in Jeddah progressed, an unexpected change occurred. On Wednesday, Carlos Sainz did not come to the meeting with the press due to poor health, on Thursday he completed two training sessions and hoped to recover on Friday, but was hospitalized due to appendicitis.
There were no other reserve drivers – Schwartzman and Giovinazzi – in Jeddah, but there was Oliver Berman, who competed in Formula 2 and won pole. He was called in to replace him. Tomorrow, 18-year-old Berman will become the youngest driver to drive for Ferrari in a Formula 1 race. He chose the number 38.
The weekend in Jeddah followed the pattern of Thursday – Friday – Saturday. On Thursday, Verstappen and Alonso were in the lead in training, and on Friday afternoon Max again had the best time.
In the third practice, Zhou crashed the car seriously, Sauber mechanics continued to repair it even after the start of qualifying. As a result, Guanyu left a minute before the end of the first part of qualifying, but did not have time to start a fast lap.
Pirelli brought three “medium” compositions to the stage: C2, C3 and C4 in the roles Hard, Medium and Soft.
In the first session The Mercedes drivers went to Medium for the first attempt, the rest went to Soft, but in the second Hamilton and Russell also switched to Soft.
Hulkenberg was unhappy to be blocked by Sargent, Piastri hit the barrier with no visible impact on the car, but it was carefully examined by mechanics. Russell was warned with a black and white flag for crossing the white line when entering the pit lane. Stroll received a disallowed lap because he went off the track.
Verstappen topped the timesheet with a lap of 1:28.171. Stroll posted the second fastest time, 0.079 behind the leader. Bottas, Ocon, Gasly, Sargent and Zhou dropped out of further competition.
In the second session Everyone set it back to Soft. On the straights the racers tried to get into the slipstream behind the other car to gain some time.
Hulkenberg complained of loss of power and stopped in the safety zone in turn eight. Red flags appeared, the car was immediately evacuated – the break lasted only a few minutes. Nico looked at what was happening behind the fence.
Verstappen again led the time sheet with 1:28.078. Leclerc came second in a Ferrari, eight hundredths behind. Berman, who made a small mistake, did not qualify for the final, just like Albon, Magnussen, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg.
In the final everyone also went to Soft. On the first attempt, Verstappen rode the fastest with a large lead: 1:27.472, which no one managed to regain.
Max Verstappen won qualifying in Jeddah, taking his second pole of the season and the 34th of his career, ahead of Alain Prost and Jim Clark – and moving up to fifth in the number of pole positions in Formula 1 history.
Charles Leclerc showed the second fastest time, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso will start from the second row tomorrow.
Qualifying results
| Pilot | Team | 1 session | Session 2 | Session 3 | ||||||
| M | Time | Kr | M | Time | Kr | M | Time | Kr | ||
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 | 1:28,171 | 6 | 1 | 1:28,033 | 6 | 1 | 1:27,472 | 6 |
| 2. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | 3 | 1:28,318 | 8 | 2 | 1:28.112 | 8 | 2 | 1:27,791 | 7 |
| 3. C. Perez | Red Bull | 4 | 1:28,638 | 6 | 6 | 1:28,467 | 7 | 3 | 1:27,807 | 6 |
| 4. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | 5 | 1:28,706 | 8 | 3 | 1:28.122 | 3 | 4 | 1:27,846 | 6 |
| 5. O. Piastri | McLaren | 7 | 1:28,755 | 8 | 4 | 1:28,343 | 8 | 5 | 1:28,089 | 6 |
| 6. L.Norris | McLaren | 8 | 1:28,805 | 8 | 7 | 1:28,479 | 8 | 6 | 1:28,132 | 6 |
| 7. D. Russell | Mercedes | 6 | 1:28,749 | 8 | 5 | 1:28,448 | 9 | 7 | 1:28,316 | 5 |
| 8. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | eleven | 1:28,994 | 9 | 10 | 1:28,606 | 9 | 8 | 1:28,460 | 6 |
| 9. Yu.Tsunoda | RB | 10 | 1:28,988 | 6 | 8 | 1:28,564 | 6 | 9 | 1:28,547 | 6 |
| 10. L. Walk | Aston Martin | 2 | 1:28,250 | 8 | 9 | 1:28,578 | 5 | 10 | 1:28,572 | 6 |
| 11. O. Berman | Ferrari | 9 | 1:28,984 | 9 | eleven | 1:28,642 | 9 | |||
| 12. A. Elbon | Williams | 15 | 1:29,107 | 8 | 12 | 1:28,980 | 8 | |||
| 13. K.Magnussen | Hare | 14 | 1:29,069 | 8 | 13 | 1:29.020 | 9 | |||
| 14. D. Ricciardo | RB | 13 | 1:29,065 | 6 | 14 | 1:29.025 | 6 | |||
| 15. N. Hulkenberg | Hare | 12 | 1:29.055 | 8 | 15 | 2 | ||||
| 16. V. Bottas | Sauber | 16 | 1:29,179 | 9 | ||||||
| 17. E.Okon | Alps | 17 | 1:29,475 | 10 | ||||||
| 18. P. Gasly | Alps | 18 | 1:29,479 | 9 | ||||||
| 19. L. Sargent | Williams | 19 | 1:29,526 | 9 | ||||||
| 20. G.Zhou | Sauber | 20 | – | 2 | ||||||
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
