Verstappen takes fifth place in the all-time pole list, Bearman qualifies 11th on debut and Hamilton is out-qualified by a team-mate at four races in a row for the first time since 2015. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
VERSTAPPEN ON POLE FOR 2024 SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX
Max Verstappen secured the 34th pole position of his Formula 1 career in qualifying for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. That saw him overtake Jim Clark and Alain Prost for fifth in the all-time list of most pole positions in F1.
Jeddah Corniche Circuit is the 20th different circuit at which Verstappen has secured pole position in his F1 career. Verstappen is the sixth driver to have taken pole at 20 different tracks, overtaking Michael Schumacher in the list. This was the first time Verstappen qualified on the front row at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
With pole position for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Verstappen secured the 60th front row start of his F1 career. He’s the sixth driver to make 60 front row starts in F1, equalling Nico Rosberg for sixth in the all-time list.
Verstappen’s pole made Red Bull the first team to take three pole positions at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, doing so in three consecutive years.
Verstappen’s pole lap time – a 1:27.472 – is a new Track Record at Jeddah Corniche Circuit, beating Lewis Hamilton’s former record from 2021 by 0.039 seconds.
IN THE TOP 10
Charles Leclerc qualified on the front row for the seventh consecutive race, lining up alongside Max Verstappen on the first row for a fifth successive race weekend.
Charles Leclerc reached Q3 for the 100th time in his Formula 1 career, becoming the 15th driver to make 100 Q3 appearances.
Leclerc has qualified second in all of the last three years at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, though he started only 12th last year as a result of a grid penalty.
With third place in qualifying for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez qualified in the top three for the first time since the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix.
After qualifying for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc are the only drivers with a 100% Q3 appearance rate at Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Fernando Alonso qualified in the top four for the first time since the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, while team-mate Lance Stroll made his first Q3 appearance since then.
With Oscar Piastri fifth and Lando Norris sixth, this was the first time that McLaren reached Q3 with both cars at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Piastri recorded McLaren’s best Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying result to date with fifth place.
Sixth place is Norris’ best Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying result to date, having had a previous best qualifying result of seventh in 2021.
George Russell’s seventh place in qualifying for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix marked the first time he qualified outside of the top six since the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix. This is the first race in Saudi Arabia for which neither Mercedes driver qualified in the top six.
This is the first time Lewis Hamilton has been out-qualified by his team-mate at four consecutive races since the end of the 2015 season. Hamilton qualified eighth for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – the same position as he qualified last year.
Qualifying ninth for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda recorded RB’s first Q3 appearance of the 2024 season.
OUT IN Q2
Making his qualifying debut with Ferrari after just one hour of practice in the car, Oliver Bearman narrowly missed out on becoming the eighth driver to reach Q3 on his Formula 1 debut. Bearman missed out on a slot in Q3 by just 0.036 seconds and qualified in 11th place.
Bearman is the first driver to qualify in the top 11 on debut since Lando Norris at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix and the first debutant to start in the top 11 on the grid since Nyck de Vries at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.
Alex Albon made it out of Q1 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for the first time in his three appearances at the track.
With Albon out in Q2 and Logan Sargeant exiting in Q1, Williams remain the only team yet to record a Q3 appearance at Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Albon’s 12th place in qualifying for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the team’s best qualifying result at the track to date.
Haas recorded a double Q2 exit at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for the second year in a row.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified 14th for the second race in a row.
OUT IN Q1
The same five drivers who were out in Q1 at the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix were eliminated in Q1 once again at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were eliminated in Q1 at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. For both drivers, it was their first Q1 exit at the track.
The Sauber team recorded their third successive double Q1 exit at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. This was the first time that the team has seen both cars eliminated in Q1 at three races in a row since the Hungarian, British and 70th Anniversary Grands Prix in 2020.
Bottas exited in Q1 for a third consecutive race at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, recording three successive Q1 exits for the first time in his career.
Before the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso – in 2021 – was the only Alpine driver to have missed out on Q3 at Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were eliminated in Q1 in 2024.
Ocon and Gasly both lost their 100% Q3 appearance rates at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while Ocon maintained his record of never being out-qualified by a team-mate in Jeddah.
The Enstone team recorded a double Q1 elimination for the second race in a row. This was the first time the team recorded double Q1 exits at consecutive races since the 2016 Italian and Singapore Grands Prix.