Qualifying beneath the lights on the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix didn’t disappoint with drama all through and an extremely tight battle for pole place determined by the best of margins.
Listed below are our winners and losers from a pulsating qualifying in Jeddah…
Winner – Max Verstappen
Not one, however two gorgeous laps from Max Verstappen. Regardless of carrying extra gasoline on his first flyer of Q3, the Dutchman was by some means capable of pip McLaren’s Oscar Piastri’s pre-red flag benchmark by simply 0.001s.
Piastri would go on to reclaim prime spot earlier than Verstappen usurped him with a chic ultimate run because the four-time world champion as soon as once more made the distinction to grab an unlikely pole away from the qualifying favourites.
Loser – Lando Norris
Lando Norris
This was a bruising night time for Lando Norris because the F1 world championship chief suffered a significant early blow to his title aspirations.
Norris crashed closely when he misplaced management of his McLaren over a kerb at Flip 5 throughout his first flying lap of Q3 and slewed into the barrier, sustaining substantial injury which eradicated him on the spot.
The Briton berated himself as a “f****** fool” for the accident which leaves him a lowly tenth on the grid and staring on the very seemingly state of affairs that he’ll lose his factors benefit.
Winner – Charles Leclerc
Though Charles Leclerc continues to be left annoyed by Ferrari’s deficit to the leaders in F1 2025, he can take satisfaction from the very fact he as soon as once more squeezed every part from his SF-25.
Leclerc dragged his Ferrari to fourth in qualifying in Jeddah, behind solely Verstappen, Piastri and Mercedes’ George Russell. What involved him although was the sizeable 0.376s hole to pole place.
Regardless of the tough automobile at his disposal, Leclerc continues to underline his prowess over a single lap, and maintain the sting over his new teammate.
Loser – Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton’s tough patch reveals little signal of stopping as he may solely handle seventh in qualifying, having scraped via Q1 and Q2.
A complete second away from pole, Hamilton additionally lagged greater than half a second – and three locations – behind Leclerc as his qualifying woes continued in Jeddah. The seven-time world champion admitted he’s struggling to “bond” together with his Ferrari automobile and his set-up selections don’t seem to serving to.
Having felt like he had made progress in Bahrain, it’s again to the drafting board for Hamilton.
Winner – Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz took a superb P6 for Williams
One other spectacular qualifying show from Carlos Sainz, who claimed a superb sixth on the grid as the only real Q3 runner for Williams.
Sainz’s sensible late Q3 effort pipped Hamilton to see him outpace his Ferrari substitute for the second consecutive weekend.
After being annoyed to overlook out on factors final trip in Bahrain, Sainz might be decided to transform his lofty grid place right into a top-10 end on Sunday.
Loser – Jack Doohan
After an encouraging displaying in Bahrain, it ended up being a disappointing qualifying for Jack Doohan.
Doohan was dumped out in Q1 with a time solely adequate for seventeenth, whereas his teammate continued to star within the different Alpine.
Winner – Pierre Gasly
The Alpine clearly has some tempo within the arms of Pierre Gasly, who as soon as once more extracted the utmost out of his automobile to bag one other top-10 beginning spot.
Aside from being crushed by Sainz’s Williams, Gasly was ‘better of the remainder’ behind the main pack and can even begin forward of Norris as he goals to make it back-to-back factors finishes within the Center East.
Loser – Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon underwhelmed as he ended up nineteenth for Haas and watched his rookie teammate progress to Q2 and take fifteenth whereas he didn’t make the lower.
Winner – Liam Lawson
Liam Lawson secured his finest qualifying results of the 12 months
Liam Lawson claimed his finest beginning place of the season to date with twelfth in his Racing Bulls automobile, having fallen a tenth shy of creating Q3 for the primary time.
Lawson additionally bought the higher of a teammate in qualifying for the primary time in 10 races, ending the second-longest shedding streak of any driver on a Saturday.
A well timed assertion efficiency from the Kiwi after his brutal begin to 2025.
Loser – Sauber
A poor qualifying for Sauber as Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto slumped to 18th and twentieth respectively.
Bortoleto was left apologising to his workforce for a giant spin down at Flip 1 which ruined his hopes of attaining a greater outcome.
