Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix following a dramatic Qualifying session.
Hamilton endured a difficult FP3 as he struggled on the soft tyre and escaped with a reprimand following a scary impeding incident with Haas’ Nikita Mazepin, before surviving hectic Q1 and Q2 sessions to snatch pole position for the inaugural Saudi Arabian GP.
Valtteri Bottas managed to overcome various dramas in Qualifying to secure second and a front-row lockout for Mercedes, ahead of Max Verstappen who crashed at the end of Q3 as he looked destined for pole.
Now here is a full roundup of FP3 and Qualifying.
FP3
Haas’ Mazepin and Mick Schumacher were first out on track in this late-afternoon session but Kimi Raikkonen quickly usurped the pair to set a proper benchmark of 1m 30.622, before lowering his time to 1m 30.189 after Valtteri Bottas briefly went top.
Hamilton though looked comfortable throughout his opening stint as he opened his run with 1m 29.105 and proceeded to find 0.791 seconds to eventually finish second quickest, after failing to find improvement on his soft tyre Qualifying simulations.
The seven-time champion though was fastest at the halfway mark from Verstappen by 0.345s as Pierre Gasly placed himself third fastest on the medium tyres, as he too failed to improve on the soft tyre.
Verstappen though was able to switch his soft tyre on during two Qualifying simulations as he went fastest by 0.102s initially before finding a further 0.107s to improve to 1m 28.105, only to find 0.005s on his final flier on a second set of soft tyres to top the session with 1m 28.100.
Sergio Perez meanwhile rebounded from a difficult Friday to finish third ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Gasly, with the trio split by only 0.086s.
Elsewhere, there was late drama as Mazepin almost smashed into the rear of Hamilton’s Mercedes from behind as he rapidly caught the Brit who was on a slowdown lap, although no warning flags were displayed as confirmed by FIA Race Director – Michael Masi.
Post-session, Hamilton was handed a reprimand following his incident with Mazepin after stewards found Mercedes more at fault for the situation than the Brit himself.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 28.100 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.214 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.529 |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.541 |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.615 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.919 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.001 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 1.049 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.077 |
| 10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.200 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.318 |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1.490 |
| 13 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 1.589 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.617 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.930 |
| 16 | George Russell | Williams | + 1.934 |
| 17 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 2.196 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.266 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.833 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | + 2.879 |
Qualifying
Q1
Track evolution dominated Q1 as Hamilton topped the opening round of flying laps with 1m 28.466 but was surpassed by Carlos Sainz in the tenth minute who went 0.136s quicker as times continued to tumble throughout the session as Perez finished fastest with 1m 28.021.
At the midway point, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, Schumacher and Mazepin occupied the elimination spots with none of those five eventually surviving, although Latifi found time to secure 16th on the grid ahead of Vettel and Stroll.
Bottas meanwhile endured misfire issues with his power unit as he grinded to a sudden halt in the pit lane as he returned to his garage, although he was able to continue after the issue was quickly corrected.
Q2
Yuki Tsunoda leads the pack out for Q2 but Verstappen quickly set the pace with 1m 27.953 to go top whilst others needed second runs to find a representative time, although Sainz saw his lap time deleted after he got on the kerb at Turn 10 and spun damaging his rear wing slightly.
With six minutes left, the elimination zone compromised of; George Russell, Antonio Giovinazzi, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso and Sainz.
Come the checkered flag, Giovinazzi and Ocon escaped the bottom five at Daniel Ricciardo and Raikkonen’s expense as Alonso outqualified Russell in 13th and 14th, whilst Sainz suffered another wide moment which prevented him from advancing.
Elsewhere, Bottas survived a banging of tyres to reach Q3 after Raikkonen clipped his compatriot’s front right tyre as Bottas was on a slowdown lap.
Q3
Charles Leclerc was first driver out on track for the first Q3 runs but it was Verstappen who set the pace upon completion of first set of fliers with a stunning 1m 27.653 from Hamilton and Perez, with Bottas extracting extra time on his second flier to go second.
Gasly slotted into fourth after opting to do a late first flier in the ninth minute as Hamilton pitted for a slight tweak to his front wing, which paid dividends as he quickly ventured out and delivered a provisional pole time of 1m 27.511.
Verstappen meanwhile pitted for more fuel and survived a minor glance of the wall at Turn Two as he launched a last-gasp flier, only to get wide at Turn 27 on entry and hit the wall, causing him to grind to a halt.
Hamilton consequently inherited consecutive pole positions for the first time in 2021 as Bottas joined him on the front row, leaving Verstappen third alongside Leclerc and Perez just behind in fifth, having edged out Gasly by 0.002s to leave the Frenchman sixth.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m 27.511 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.111 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.142 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.543 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.612 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.614 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.669 |
| 8 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.931 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.136 |
| 10 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1.243 |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1m 28.668 |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 0.217 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.252 |
| 14 | George Russell | Williams | + 0.386 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 24.984 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1m 29.177 |
| 17 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.021 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.191 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 0.287 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | + 1.296 |