Maiden Pole for Perez after massive Schumacher incident

Mercedes and Hamilton's struggles continue

It was Hamilton who will be kicking himself after Q1, as it's the first time he's eliminated on pace in Q1 since the British Grand Prix in 2009. It was three other Mercedes powered engines that joined the Brit in being eliminated as the once-dominant power engine continues to find struggles throughout the season.

Schumacher involved in a massive crash

A massive incident for Mick Schumacher took the German out of qualifying in Q2 as he hit the concrete barriers hard which saw two wheels fly off his HAAS. The German is reported as talking and with no visible injuries but is being taken for a scan in the hospital. The driver lost control at turn 10, before trying to save it which took him away from the tyre barriers and into a concrete barrier before the car finally came to a halt at turn 12.

Nicholas Latifi had a heavy crash at turn 13 on the first run in Q1 bringing out the red flag on the session. Halting the progress of the two Ferrari's who were just about to set their first lap time of the session. Which could turn out to be crucial later as it's a set of softs that have been worn down.

Perez on pole

It was Perez who turned out victorious in the battle between Ferrari and Red Bull. The biggest difference between the cars in the session was that Max Verstappen and his Red Bull required two push laps to Ferrari's one. Otherwise, it was very hard to split the top 4 of Perez, Leclerc, Sainz, and Verstappen. As the World Champion struggled for grip. It was Esteban Ocon who was best of the rest, ahead of Russell, and teammate Fernando Alonso. With Valterri Bottas, Pierre Gasly, and Kevin Magnussen finishing the top 10.

And Checo takes the record for the longest time between first start and first pole after it took the Mexican 215 races.

Shock elimination for Hamilton

It was Hamilton's elimination that is the main takeaway from the session. However, Latifi's shunt brought out a red flag that would be the other talking point, once the session resumed it was Carlos Sainz who topped the session. With Latifi already confirmed at the back after his shunt, it was Yuki Tsunoda who suffered bad luck as he was boxed because of cooling systems issues that left mechanics scrambling to fix his Alpha Tauri before the end of the session but didn't manage to get him out again.

It was a shootout to not be in the bottom three throughout the rest of Q1, and it was Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg who joined the Canadian, Japanese, and British drivers in the elimination zone.

The Mercedes duo ran mediums in the early part of Q1 as they tried to figure out the cooling tarmac in Jeddah as well as saving some soft tyres. Although Hamilton struggled for grip during this as he ran wide at turn one as well as four as the yellow rimmed tyres failed to bite. Ruining the possibility of a competitive time in his first run which turned out to be a minor issue for the Brit in the long term.

Ferrari stay on top despite a long red flag

A second qualifying session was defined by the Schumacher crash. After almost an hour the session resumed and it was the Ferrari once again who topped the session once again through the Spaniard Sainz. Alpha Tauri had more struggles as Gasly's Alpha Tauri required some duct tape to fix a flexing floor. It was Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Zhou Guanyu, Mich Schumacher and Lance Stroll who didn't make the final cutoff. Leaving Russell as the only Merc powered car left as their woes continue.