SAUDI ARABIA. Jeddah: Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez of Mexico scored his first pole position defeating Ferrari driver duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz by two-hundredths of a second at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.
Perez clocked 1:28:200 on his final lap. This was Perez’s 215th attempt. Sergio Perez’s team-mate and the defending world champion, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen secured the fourth position after a bit of struggle on track.
The unfortunate turn of events
Seven-time world champion and winner of last year’s Saudi Arabian GP Mercedes driver Sir Lewis Hamilton made an early exit after failing to get past qualifying’s opening knockout phase. The Haas driver Mick Schumacher was a bit unfortunate as his vehicle rammed into the crash barrier after bouncing off the kerb at the exit of the 150mph Turn 10 at a very high-speed following which the qualifying race had to be red flagged.
Meanwhile, Williams driver Nicholas Latifi also crashed out in Q1 after his car hits crash barriers on the entry to Turn 13.
Oracle Red Bull driver Sergio Perez told the Independent, “What a lap. I can do 1,000 laps and I don’t think I can beat that lap, it was unbelievable.”
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc told to Independent, “The lap felt good, honestly. I am very happy with the lap. All qualifying was all about just keeping it on track and not doing any mistakes which would have been costly.”
FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX 2022
Qualifying results
- Sergio Perez of Red Bull Racing, Time: 1:28.200
- Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, Time: 1:28.225
- Carlos Sainz of Ferrari, Time: 1:28.402
- Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing, Time: 1:28.461
- Esteban Ocon of Alpine, Time: 1:29.068
Jeddah Corniche Circuit and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a 6.174 km racing circuit located on the Jeddah Corniche adjoining the Red Sea and the track is placed between the island mosque and new marina which is 12 km away from Jeddah city centre.
The circuit is fast with an average speed of 252km/h which is second only to Monza. It is the fastest street circuit in Formula One and the track is the second-longest track on the Formula One calendar after Spa-Francorchamps. Carsten Tilke, son of Hermann Tilke, a well-known architect behind many F1 Circuits is the architect behind this street circuit and has worked closely with F1’s Motorsport team to design a track that puts overtaking at the heart of the project. The circuit staged the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on 5 December 2021 under floodlights.
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