An interminable wait but a total emotion. For the first time since his debut in Formula 1 in 2011, Sergio Pérez took pole position at the Jeddah circuit in Saudi Arabia, and will start this Sunday ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, first and second in the first Grand Prix of the season last week in Bahrain.
Well placed ocon
The 32-year-old Mexican driver will see his teammate at Red Bull, Max Verstappen, world champion last season, start in fourth position … well ahead of his best enemy, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who was eliminated in the first phase qualifications. Which had not happened since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2017.
With this poor performance, the seven-time world champion therefore only obtained the 16th time, in a heavy context marked by the maintenance this Sunday (7 p.m. in France) of the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia, despite the attack from an oil site near the Jeddah circuit by Yemeni Houthi rebels. The French Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) achieved the fifth and the ninth time.
Mick Schumacher victim of a violent crash
The 23-year-old German driver, Mick Schumacher, lost control of his single-seater before hitting a wall violently at high speed.
If the impact was impressive and the concern significant, his state of health was not considered worrying by his team Hass and Canal + who explained that he had been able to speak to his mother by telephone and that he was heading to a hospital for a scan.