Saudi Arabia GP Qualifying Race

Pole position seemed to be Verstappen's to give away.  I felt like he would want to stamp this track as his, just as he did in Bahrain, and prove that he is the clear Number 1 driver at Red Bull, as Perez took pole here last season.

As we went into the first Qualifying session, there were lots of spins and Norris tagged the wall.  The Red Bulls and Aston Martins were very strong, with Ferrari behind them.  The Williams were both out, with a yellow flag affecting their final runs.  Norris was out after his incident and Sargeant ran high over the kerb and hit the wall.

Delightfully, in the second session Verstappen had a big problem, stuck in 3rd gear.  Other than Verstappen in 15th, there were no big surprises out.  Hulkenberg continues to outshine his more established Haas team mate, Magnussen; so both Haas out and both Alfa Romeos.

The field was wide open with Verstappen out for Q3.  Perez, ultimately in the fastest car on the tarmac took the pole with the teams jumbled up behind him.  LeClerc took second but will drop back 10 places for a grid penalty.  Alonso was thrilled with third and was grinning from ear to ear as he will start on the front row.  Russell continues to drive strongly ahead of his seven times world champion team mate and qualified 4th/3rd and was looking forward to fighting with Fernando.