Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying Analysis
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Red Bull: Sergio Perez takes a second consecutive pole at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after a masterful performance. Max Verstappen suffered great misfortune with a transmission failure and starts P15.
Ferrari: A brilliant lap from Leclerc gave him P2 however he will only start P12 due to a 10 place grid penalty for using extra control electronics components. Sainz struggled through the session but came out P5.
Aston Martin: A front row for Fernando Alonso after another stellar performance from the Aston. Stroll also did a decent job and puts himself P6 (starts P5).
Mercedes: A great lap from Russell put him P4 (starting P3) while Hamilton had an unfortunate track limits infringement that left him P8 (starting P7).
Alpine: A great day for Alpine with both drivers through to Q3 with Ocon in P7 and Gasly in P10 (both starting one place higher).
McLaren: A tale of two halves for McLaren as Piastri put in a remarkable drive to take the Papaya machine all the way to Q3 while Lando’s brush with the wall left him languishing in P19.
Haas: So close to but yet so far for Haas with Hulkenberg in P11 fractions of a second off Q3 and Magnussen in P13.
Alfa Romeo: A pretty routine session for Alfa Romeo with Zhou in P12 and Bottas in P14 – nothing shocking and nothing disappointing there.
AlphaTauri: A disappointing performance for AlphaTauri with Tsunoda in P16 and De Vries in P18 after being disadvantaged due to a late engine change and minimal running.
Williams: A woeful day for Williams as a small crash for Sargeant ruined his chances by breaking his car. Albon didn’t display much pace either in P17.
(Sorry this is slightly less detailed than usual and there was no practice analysis yesterday, I haven’t felt that good recently)
Do comment your thoughts below. -
Get better soon!
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@Gabriella get well soon love
max should be spectacular later..... course...if that means cutting through the field like butter or a huge crash is anyones guess
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@Gabriella i hope Pastry gets a DNF.
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@Gabriella This is definitely going to be an interesting race with Leclerc and Verstappen so far back! Good analysis as always!
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My race predictions
Ferrari shits the bed.
Rb dominates.
MB does mediocre.
Fernando does well.
One of the rookies becomes the next Latifi
The Frenchies will do well but argue the whole time. -
Verstappen had a driveshaft fail, not the transmission, right?
Either way. I still can't believe Leclerc has to take a ten Apr penalty in the second race of the season. That's just ridiculous. The damn control electronics thing failed before it's first race. Then swapped again. Blows my mind.
Max is going to have a fun drive coming up through the field. That guy ran 2nd on hards when everyone else was running softs. It's good race to lose. It's a Max or the field this year.
If Ferrari doesn't show good race pace today, they are doomed this year. You can make the case that Bahrain is an outlier but this tracks seems to be very easy on tires.
I'm making the call now, Aston loses a very close battle for third in the constructors championship just because MB AMG whatever has a better lineup. That Aston is fast.
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@mhr555 They'll argue while enjoying the best catering in the paddock.
