Sergio Perez claimed pole position for 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen entered Qualifying as hot favourite after topping all three Practice sessions but a driveshaft failure in Q2 saw him eliminated from contention, which left Perez to take a second consecutive pole around the streets of Jeddah.
Now, here is a full roundup of FP3 and Qualifying for 2023 Saudi Arabian GP.
FP3
A quiet start saw only Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso head out in the opening minutes but neither driver set a lap time.
Once other cars began to venture out, it was Mercedes’ George Russell on softs who set the initial pace with 1m 30.476 in the 16th minute, yet Verstappen three minutes later on the hard tyre posted 1m 29.882 to go top.
Perez went fastest in the 23rd minute with 1m 29.417 and wasn’t beaten by the halfway mark of the session as he headed Verstappen and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, as everyone ran a mixture of compounds in the opening half-hour.
AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries though missed out due to a power unit issue which prevented him from participating in the session.
Attention in the second half of the session switched to qualifying simulations, as Verstappen posted 1m 28.756 to go fastest in the 45th minute, just minutes after Perez lowered his benchmark time to 1m 29.127 on his qualifying simulation.
Verstappen eventually topped the session with 1m 28.485 ahead of Perez and Alonso, whilst only Tsunoda failed to set his fastest time on the soft tyre – instead doing so on medium tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 28.485 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.613 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.998 |
| 4 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.024 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.083 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.103 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.205 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.213 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.216 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 1.276 |
| 11 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.326 |
| 12 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.432 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.448 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.468 |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.498 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.550 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.646 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.832 |
| 19 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 2.312 |
| 20 | Nyck de Vries | AlphaTauri | No Time |
Qualifying
Q1
Williams’ Alex Albon was first out on track and posted 1m 30.167 to set the pace but bettered by Logan Sargeant and Haas’ Nico Hulknberg, whilst De Vries spun on his first flier at Turn 1.
Sargeant;s lap time however was deleted for exceeding track limits meaning that Hulkenberg was top with 1m 29.875.
Verstappen however quickly hit broke the 89 second barrier as he posted 1m 28.761 to go fastest from Perez.
Once everyone completed their opening runs, the bottom five compromised of; Tsunoda, De Vries, Gasly, Alonso and Sargeant, with Alonso having spun on his initial flier but improved to fourth on his second attempt.
As the checkered flag fell,, Sargeant was eliminated in last position after he spun between Turns 23 and 24 during the 14th minute, although he later suffered a technical issue on his final flier.
McLaren’s Lando Norris qualified 19th after he hit the wall during his only run which prevented him from featuring in the remainder of Q1.
De Vries qualified 18th behind Albon and Tsunoda who were the other drivers eliminated in Q1.
Q2
Several cars headed straight out once the pit exit light turned green led by the Alfa Romeo cars, but it was Alonso who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 28.757 in the fourth minute
Verstappen meanwhile reported a transmission issue and slowly crawled back to the pits after he backed off his first flying lap, having come across Perez on a slow lap, with the issue later confirmed to be a driveshaft failure.
Once everyone completed their first Q2 runs excluding Verstappen, Alonso sat top from Perez whilst the elimination zone compromised of; Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas, Guanyu Zhou, Hulkenberg – with Verstappen out of the session and starting 15th on the grid.
As the checkered flag fell, Sainz and Gasly escaped elimination as Bottas qualified 14th behind Kevin Magnussen, Zhou and Hulkenberg.
Perez meanwhile topped Q2 with 1m 28.635 ahead of Alonso.
Q3
Alonso was first out on track and set the benchmark time of 1m 28.925 but was quickly usurped by Leclerc and Russell, with the Monegasque on top with 1m 28.757 set in the fourth minute.
Perez in the sixth minute posted 1m 28.265 to go top and once everyone completed their first flying laps, the top five compromised of; Perez, Leclerc, Russell, Alonso and Stroll.
Once the checkered flag fell, Perez once again took pole for this race like he did in 2022 but this time he will be joined on the front row by Alonso – because Leclerc has a ten-place grid penalty for taking a third controls electronic power unit component which drops him to 12th on grid.
Russell and Sainz will line up on the second row in third and fourth positions, ahead of; Stroll, Ocon, Hamilton, Piastri and Gasly.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 28.265 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.155 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.465 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.592 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.666 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.680 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0..813 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.958 |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.978 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.092 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1m 29.451 |
| 12 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.010 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.066 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.217 |
| 15 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | No Time Set |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1m 29.939 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.055 |
| 18 | Nyck de Vries | alphaTauri | + 0.305 |
| 19 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.508 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 38.571 |
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