Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has earned pole position for Sunday's Saudi Arabia Grand Prix after Lando Norris crashed out in Q3.
Sitting third in the Drivers Championship, Verstappen was under pressure to deliver ahead of the showpiece race on Sunday and he was boosted as leader Norris sent his McLaren into the wall early in the final session.
After Norris declared that he was fine and his car removed from the track, the remaining nine drivers competed for top spot, with several of them producing stellar laps in their own right.
However, after Oscar Piastri had dislodged George Russell from first place, Verstappen went fastest by just 0.010 seconds to join the former on the front row of the grid.
Russell ultimately finished 0.113 seconds behind Verstappen, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc making it four different teams on the first two rows.
Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz Jr - in the Mercedes and Williams respectively - were further back in fifth and sixth, Lewis Hamilton having to settle for seventh in the second Ferrari.
Norris radios to tell his team he is OK and swiftly gets out of the car 👇#F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/DDswjXXsf0
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 19, 2025
Best of the rest?
Having only narrowly scrambled into Q3, Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda claimed eighth on the grid ahead of Alpine driver Pierre Gasly and Norris.
Once again, the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll underperformed, only earning 13th and 16th position respectively.
After impressively starting last to finish 10th in Bahrain last week, Haas driver Oliver Bearman qualified in 15th spot this time around.
Darren Plant
