F1 Saudi Arabian GP 2023: Perez takes pole, Alonso starts from P2 after reliability issues hits Verstappen

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Sergio Perez stepped up for Red Bull to ensure team started from pole at Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after a mechanical issue sidelined two-time defending world champion Max Verstappen.

Verstappen was fastest in all three practice sessions at Jeddah Corniche Circuit but his qualifying effort was cut short Saturday when he rioed “I have a problem. Engine, engine problem,” during second session. Dutchman drove to pits, where a driveshaft issue was discovered, and Verstappen’s qualifying effort was over.

It left Perez as lone Red Bull representative in final round of qualifying and he went on to win pole for second consecutive year — only two poles of his career.

“Max has been really strong whole weekend, so hopefully we can have both cars up re,” Perez said. “You never kw with se cars, reliability issues can hit you at any time.” Verstappen will start 15th.

Reigning world champion to start main race from P15

“ driveshaft broke ... It was anying because car was good up until n, I was comfortable in every session and every time I was on track, I was quick, so for sure we could have fought for pole,” Verstappen said. “Inste, we w have a bit more work ahe of us. It is a long championship and we will stay positive. I think a win is tricky from that position, but I will try to score as many points as possible.”

Charles Leclerc qualified second for Ferrari but will drop 10 positions at start of Sunday’s race because of a grid penalty for exceeding allotted electronics control unit on car’s engine in season-opening race.

Leclerc said even without penalty he wasn’t all that impressed with his qualifying effort because entire grid is chasing Red Bull. Verstappen last year won a record 15 races, Perez ded two victories and Red Bull claimed both driver and constructors championships.

“ lap — I’m really, really happy. It was really on limit,” Leclerc said. “On or hand, I feel Red Bull are quite far ahe and that is our goal, to beat m, so re is still a lot of work to do.”

Fernando Alonso starts Saudi Arabian GP from P2 after Leclerc's penalty

penalty to Leclerc pushes Fernando Alonso to front row for start after Spaniard qualified third in his new Aston Martin ride. Alonso finished third in his season-opening debut race with Aston in Bahrain.

Is he in position to win his first F1 race since 2013?

“, I think we are t in that position yet. I think on pure pace, Red Bull is in ar league,” Alonso said. “I think we need to focus more on or teams: Ferrari will be very strong, Mercedes y are strong, and also Alpine, y are fast here.

“I think our race is behind us. But we saw Max could t complete qualifying with a mechanical issue, so even if we focus on our mirrors and try to keep people behind us, if anything happened in front, we will try to take opportunity, for sure.”

George Russell qualified fourth for Mercedes — four spots ahe of teammate Lewis Hamilton. seven-time champion qualified eighth.

“We just need to keep trying. matter what changes we’ve been making, we’ve been struggling to extract speed, and I just don’t feel properly connected to car at moment,” Hamilton said. “That is something we will work on to improve confidence in next races. George did a great job and he wasn’t that far off some of cars at front, so we just need to keep pushing.”

Carlos Sainz qualifies 5th on Ferrari, ahe of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll

Carlos Sainz Jr. was fifth for Ferrari followed by Lance Stroll of Aston Martin. Esteban Ocon was seventh.

Oscar Piastri was ninth for McLaren and Pierre Gasly 10th for Alpine.

Logan Sargeant, American rookie driving for Williams, was briefly atop speed chart in first qualifying group until his time was deleted for violating track limits. Sargeant’s tire h briefly touched an area of track considered off limits and FIA quickly deleted his lap.

Sargeant later spun in qualifying group in his desperate push to t qualify last. H his earlier lap t been deleted, Sargeant would have vanced into second round of qualifying. He’ll start 20th.

“I put in a very fast lap but it was deleted as I crossed pitlane entry by a margin. re was performance gain so it’s frustrating, but I still h two more laps to deliver and I didn’t, so my apologies go to team,” Sargeant said. “Although I’ve given myself a lot more work than I needed to, I’m quite optimistic about (Sunday) and I’ll make it up to team.”

Nyck de Vries missed Saturday morning practice with an engine problem n spun almost immediately at start of qualifying, and Lando rris of McLaren smacked wall in first qualifying group and h to go to pits for repairs. It prevented him from vancing as his rookie teammate Piastri moved on to third round for first time in his career.

Jeddah circuit is second-longest track on F1 circuit at 6.174 kilometers (3.836 miles) and was built alongside Red Sea. It debuted as penultimate race on 2021 calendar and is considered “fastest street track” on schedule with aver speeds exceeding 250 kmh (160 mph).