JEDDAH: Max Verstappen shut out all the distractions surrounding his troubled Red Bull team to take pole position on Friday for Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The three-time world champion clocked a fastest lap of one minute 27.472 seconds to outpace Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by three-tenths of a second with his team-mate Sergio Perez, who had been on pole for the last two years, third in a tense floodlit qualifying session.
It was Verstappen’s 34th pole position and his first at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, but the day’s action was lit up by the performance of British teenager Oliver Bearman who qualified 11th for Ferrari on his competitive F1 debut.
The 18-year-old was dramatically called up earlier in the day to replace appendicitis-victim Carlos Sainz.
Fernando Alonso was a bold fourth for Aston Martin ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and the two Mercedes of George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
Yuki Tsunoda was ninth for RB ahead of Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and Bearman.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” said 18-year-old Bearman. “It was a fun day.”
Verstappen, who won from fourth on the grid last year, was also happy.
“It was a very good day,” said the Dutchman who swept to victory in last weekend’s season-opener in Bahrain.
“We improved the car a little bit overnight and that gave me more confidence to attack the high-speed corners.”
Leclerc said: “I put everything together for that lap. I hope Carlos can recover quickly, but on Ollie’s side he has done an incredible job after just one session and he was straight up to speed. I am happy for him.”
Bearman, who had only made his Ferrari debut hours earlier in final practice, was one of the first on track when the lights went green.
Sainz, who remarkably drove in both of Thursday’s practice sessions, underwent surgery on Friday morning, hoping to recover in time for the Australian Grand Prix on March 24.
Between the sessions, Audi confirmed their takeover of the Sauber team ahead of a 2026 entry, news that cheered the Swiss team, after Zhou Guanyu’s heavy late crash in third practice.
Kevin Magnussen set an early Q1 marker lap for Haas before Alonso and then Verstappen, after 10 minutes, set the pace, with Bearman holding his own in eighth place, half-a-second adrift.
At this stage, Mercedes were switching from mediums to softs while Zhou, his car still being repaired, remained absent until emerging with two minutes remaining to join a frantic Q1 finale.
Unfortunately, for the Chinese driver, he did not make it to the line before the chequered flag and failed to record a lap time, joining Williams’ Logan Sargeant, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas in the other Sauber in elimination.
The Q2 session was red-flagged after six minutes when Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas suffered a power failure. He parked at Turn Eight on the edge of a run-off area from which his car was rescued.
At the re-start, Bearman on fresh softs led the two Mercedes, on used softs, out, the teenager locking up and ruining his first flying lap before Perez and then Verstappen took the initiative for Red Bull until split by Alonso.
The champion, seeking his first front row start at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, clocked 1:28.078, giving him an advantage of just 0.044 on Alonso ahead of the final runs which saw Bearman finish 11th, just 0.036 adrift of Hamilton.
He was eliminated along with Williams’ Alex Albon, Magnussen, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and the luckless Hulkenberg, no disgrace on a debut day with F1’s most famous and illustrious team.
“That was a messy session,” said Bearman, who had ‘kissed’ the barriers in one section, on Ferrari team radio.
His expected place in the top-ten shootout was taken by Tsunoda of RB, the disruptor among the regulars, as Russell set the pace before being beaten by the Red Bulls, Perez taking top spot before Verstappen swept through in 1:27.472, three-tenths ahead with Alonso third.
Max Verstappen claims pole for Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
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Max Verstappen claims pole for Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Red Bull’s three-time world champion is joined on the front row of Saturday’s race by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc
Osimhen, Nigeria seek harmony with Algeria up next at AFCON
- Wins against Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda in the group stage were followed by a 4-0 demolition of Mozambique
- “The team is improving every single game,” said Lookman
RABAT: Led by Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman, Nigeria’s form at the Africa Cup of Nations has offered cause for optimism ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight quarter-final against Algeria despite reports of unrest in the squad.
The Super Eagles arrived in Marrakech for the last-eight tie as the top scorers at the tournament with 12 goals in their four games so far.
Wins against Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda in the group stage were followed by a 4-0 demolition of Mozambique in Fes in the last 16, the biggest victory for anyone in an AFCON knockout tie since 2010.
Osimhen and Lookman, winners of the African player of the year prize in 2023 and 2024 respectively, have played starring roles with three goals each as Nigeria target Cup of Nations success as a tonic for their World Cup woes.
“The team is improving every single game,” said Lookman, who has also set up four goals at the tournament, after the Mozambique victory.
Nigeria have started strongly despite the team returning to Morocco reeling in the wake of their failure to qualify for the World Cup.
Having only just sneaked into the play-offs for the tournament in North America, the Super Eagles saw their hopes ended in a penalty shoot-out loss to the Democratic Republic of Congo in Rabat in November.
They will therefore miss a second consecutive World Cup having appeared at six of the previous seven competitions.
That represents a fiasco for a football-mad nation with by far the largest population on the continent, but the Cup of Nations has a tendency to throw up unexpected success stories.
Ivory Coast’s incredible revival at the last AFCON two years ago, when they were on the brink of elimination in the group stage as hosts before coming back to win the trophy with victory against Nigeria in the final, is the perfect example.
- Bust-ups and bonuses -
Of the nine African nations who qualified directly for this year’s World Cup, Ghana and Cape Verde failed to make it to Morocco for the Cup of Nations.
Nigeria, meanwhile, are hoping to claim a fourth continental crown to soothe their disappointment at not being among the teams bound for the United States, Canada and Mexico.
This week marks a year since Eric Chelle, a former Mali player and coach, took over the Super Eagles but all he can do is try to keep his focus on Algeria amid much off-field noise.
Lookman had to play down suggestions of a bust-up with Osimhen in the last-16 win, when the latter appeared angry at his teammate for not giving him the ball.
The Galatasaray striker was then substituted and took no part in victory celebrations on the pitch with his teammates at the end of the game.
Atalanta forward Lookman later told journalists: “He’s our number one guy, everyone knows this. Top striker, top player, the rest is not really important.”
Chelle must hope harmony is restored for the game against Algeria, a repeat of the 2019 AFCON semifinal which the Super Eagles lost 2-1 in Cairo to a late Riyad Mahrez goal.
However, preparations for the showdown have been overshadowed by reports of a dispute over bonuses, with multiple sources in recent days saying the team had not been paid money promised following their first four matches.
That led to talk of a training boycott, but reports on Thursday said the issue had been resolved, with Nigeria Football Federation president Ibrahim Musa Gusau telling ESPN that “payments had been processed.”
A Nigeria team spokesperson confirmed to AFP that the squad was training as planned in Marrakech, as Chelle and his players eye a place in the semifinals.
