Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Qualifying: Verstappen snatches pole from Piastri by 10 thousandths, Norris in the wall

He couldn’t falter, but the pressure was too much. Lando Norris, after setting the fastest times in the last two practice sessions, may have pushed too hard in the final part of qualifying in Saudi Arabia. The McLaren driver hit the wall on what is the fastest street circuit on the F1 calendar.

Lando Norris out, the place was all set for his teammate, Oscar Piastri, to take pole position in Jeddah, yet once again, Max Verstappen settled the matter. The four-time world champion driver edged out Oscar Piastri for pole by just 10 thousandths and broke his own lap record from last year by 0.5 seconds. A McLaren will still be on the front row for the start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Q1

Jeddah is a very long and demanding circuit where drivers can really make a difference in a single lap. While on circuits like Bahrain, the field is within less than 1.5 seconds, in Jeddah, the gaps are a bit larger. The last one at the end of the first 20 minutes is Gabriel Bortoleto. On such a demanding circuit, he is far from his teammate in terms of time, even though both Saubers did not manage to get through Q1. Six-tenths separate the two teammates, but only one driver comes between their times. It’s Esteban Ocon’s Haas that will start second last. Gabriel Bortoleto spun in the first corner of his last attempt, ending any chance of improvement. If you subtract his time, the other 19 drivers are within 1.3 seconds. An average gap of 68 thousandths per car, a hair’s breadth.

Note that Ollie Bearman, who had his first F1 Grand Prix right here last year, was impressive by beating his Haas teammate once again. He advances to Q2. Lance Stroll is the first eliminated with a time of 1:28.645. The leader of the session is Max Verstappen, with a time of 1:27.778. He is ahead of the two McLarens and surprises everyone as he seemed far off during free practice.

Eliminated from Q1: Bortoleto, Ocon, Hülkenberg, Doohan, Stroll.

Q2

In the second part of the qualifiers, the tension rises among the favored men: The McLarens. Lando Norris reacts well to Verstappen’s best time in Q1 and sets the fastest time in Q2, improving by 3 tenths. Max Verstappen qualifies in second place before heading into Q3, thus putting pressure on Norris and Piastri.

The times are getting tighter, and Lewis Hamilton, who finishes 10th in Q2, qualifies by 7 thousandths over Albon, whose qualifying session ends there. The Williams driver opted for a slightly different strategy from other drivers, attempting an alternate strategy by setting his time while others were in the pit box. The problem with this strategy is that with the very hot daytime temperatures, the track becomes increasingly faster, with the night bringing cooler conditions.

In the end, Hadjar and Lawson also remain out of Q1, just like Alonso, who has not yet managed to qualify for Q3 this season.

Eliminated from Q2: Bearman, Hadjar, Alonso, Lawson, Albon.

Q3

The final phase of qualifying is necessarily the most demanding. Lando Norris, under pressure from his teammate and Max Verstappen, made a mistake, hitting the wall and destroying his right-side suspensions, leading to a red flag on his first flying lap of Q3. Only Oscar Piastri had time to complete a timed lap.

The last part of Q3 was therefore very intense, with Max Verstappen setting the provisional fastest time by 1 thousandth over Piastri’s time before George Russell managed the feat of taking the fastest time himself.

Finally, during their second attempt, Oscar Piastri regained the best time, but Max Verstappen reclaimed it by 10 milliseconds this time. Let’s remember that the circuit is more than 6 km long.

Lando Norris’ accident:

LANDO NORRIS DANS LE MUR EN Q3 😱

Le pilote McLaren part à la faute et gâche ses chances de pole ! #SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/b8wPACGWTW

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) April 19, 2025

The qualifying results of the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix F1: