Hamilton takes a pole at another new venue, Bottas qualifies in the top ten for the 100th consecutive race and both Aston Martin cars are out in Q1. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix!
Lewis Hamilton took pole position at a 32nd different circuit, recording his 103rd pole position in Formula 1. This is the fifth time that Hamilton has taken pole from the last six new venues to join the F1 calendar.
This was the first time that Hamilton has taken pole positions at consecutive races since taking five poles in a row between the 2020 Spanish and Russian Grands Prix.
Hamilton’s pole lap was taken at an average speed of 253.984km/h. It’s the 20th fastest pole lap in Formula 1 history. Monza, the Österreichring and Silverstone are the only tracks where faster laps have been set.
Valtteri Bottas qualified in the top ten for the 100th consecutive time. It’s a feat which has been achieved only twice previously, by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Both Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda appeared in Q3. This is the first time that the Red Bull junior team team has gone seven consecutive races without a Q1 exit since their eleven race streak between the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix and the 2016 European Grand Prix.
Esteban Ocon qualified in ninth place for a third consecutive race.
Antonio Giovinazzi qualified in tenth place, reaching Q3 for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo failed to qualify in the top three for the third race in a row. It’s the first time he’s failed to qualify in the top ten at three races in a row since the 2013 Korean, Japanese and Indian Grands Prix.
George Russell became the first driver to reach 15 Q2 exits in the 2021 season.
Kimi Raikkonen qualified in twelfth place, equalling his best qualifying result of the season. He also qualified twelfth for the Mexico City Grand Prix. He recorded Alfa Romeo’s 19th Q2 exit of the year. They’re now tied with Aston Martin for the most Q2 eliminations in 2021.
Carlos Sainz qualified in fifteenth place. He failed to reach Q3 for the first time since the Turkish Grand Prix, when he also qualified fifteenth.
For the first time since the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, both of the Silverstone-based team’s drivers were eliminated in Q1.
Sebastian Vettel recorded his third Q1 exit of the season. He was also out in Q1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Dutch Grand Prix.
Haas became the first team to reach 40 Q1 exits this season.