Motorsport journalist and podcaster
Sergio Perez has taken a second straight Saudi Arabian Grand Prix pole position after teammate Max Verstappen exited qualifying in 15th with a driveshaft issue.
Verstappen was on his first flying lap of Q2 when his driveshaft suddenly let go, forcing him to limp back to pit lane, where his car couldn’t be repaired in time to rejoin the session. Red Bull had just changed the gearbox before FP3 earlier in the day.
The Dutchman won from as far back as 14th at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. The last driver to win from 15th was Fernando Alonso at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen beat Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez to top spot in FP3 to sweep all three Saudi Arabian practice sessions ahead of qualifying tonight.
Perez had held top spot for much of the hour thanks to an early run on the soft tires, but a late blast on fresh rubber for Verstappen blew the Mexican’s best time out of the water by 0.613s with a time of 1m28.485s.
Other than requiring a new gearbox before the session, the only blot on his afternoon was a near accident with Lando Norris, who almost ran into the back of the Red Bull Racing car around a blind corner while the Verstappen slowed on a cool-down lap.
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