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Formula 1
Saudi Arabian GP
F1 Saudi Arabian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 and Qualifying
Saturday's Formula 1 action from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit
Max Verstappen took a clean sweep of top spot in Friday’s two practice sessions, with Red Bull looking dominant once again after its 1-2 in the Bahrain Grand Prix opener.
All eyes will be on what its rivals can do in response at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, and whether Aston Martin can maintain its surprise start having seen Fernando Alonso finish on the podium in the opener.
Charles Leclerc goes into the Saudi race with a 10-place grid penalty due to taking his third set of control electronics for his Ferrari after his Bahrain retirement.
Saudi Arabian GP final practice begins at 1:30pm GMT followed by qualifying at 5:00pm GMT to decide the starting grid for the race on Sunday at 5:00pm GMT.
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Oh and Sargeant locks up approaching Turn 1 and hit the wall! That's why he's out, while de Vries' earlier "mess up" involved the AlphaTauri also clipping the barriers.
Plenty of errors in that session then! Underlines my earlier comment about nothing being guranteed on the Saudi streets!
Green flag
Right after that entertaining Q1, now Q2 begins.
There's another queue of drivers wanting to head out and it's the Alfas and Haas cars that lead the way from the Astons and Piastri's McLaren.
The Ferraris and Mercs are also on track so it's just the two Red Bulls and Gasly still in the pits.
Just as we type that, Verstappen also joins the action!
Now we're getting the typical qualifying nonsense of cars slowly trundling around trying to get some space.
Alonso is lighting up the timing screens with plenty of purple at the moment!
Stopwatch
And Alonso sets the early pace a 1m28.757s, half a second clear of Stroll, and well ahead of the Ferraris.
Stroll and Ocon are third and fourth, while Sainz is already bumped down to eighth.
Here comes Verstappen and it's just a warm-up lap for the Red Bull after he has a snap when running through Turn 1 and 2.
Yellow flag
And there's a problem for Verstappen! He says it's an "engine problem."
The Red Bull is just crawling around and has clearly got serious problems! This could blow qualifying wide open!
All sounded fine for Verstappen until suddenly the engine noise drops and he slows to a crawl.
"It's almost not accelerating," says Verstappen. He's told he can try to limp back around if he can.
He is indeed now back in the garage and there's plenty of concern on the face of Christian Horner! The battle for pole could be anyone's guess!
And Verstappen is out of the car - there's just five minutes to go, is this it?!
Perez, meanwhile, is unable to beat Alonso's earlier time and is a tenth slower.
Verstappen is trudging down to the FIA garage and the Red Bull driver is eliminated in Q2. This circuit loves to spring a surprise!
It's not all rosey for Sainz, either as he's just lost a time for track limits and is also outside the drop zone.
So, in the drop zone with three and a bit minutes to go, Sainz,. Zhou, Bottas and Hulkenberg are in trouble. We know Verstappen is out.
Russell improves to go fourth, while Hamilton is sixth as they sandwich Stroll's lap time.
Perez is heading back out to see if he can restore some pride for Red Bull and displace Alonso.
There's plenty of messing around now as drivers jostle for space on the track and Sainz is in the thick of it. Remember he needs to improve in order to get through to Q3.
Checkered flag
Alonso decides to abort his latest lap as the chequered flag now heads out.
Hulkenberg moves up to eighth to put Piastri under pressure, but the McLaren man moves up to eighth.
And Sainz comfortably gets through in the end in fourth, so in the end it's the two Haas and Alfas that are eliminated.
So, for those of you just joining, Verstappen has been knocked out of Saudi Arabian GP qualifying after losing power during the session. He will start down in 15th and we have an intriguing race in store tomorrow!
Stopwatch
The battle for pole could also be intriguing as Perez did beat Alonso in the end, but his 1m38.635s was just a tenth quicker than the Aston!
Both Alpines did make it through in the end, but Gasly was just four hundredths faster than Hulkenberg. And a great effort from Piastri who gives something for McLaren to celebrate after Norris' clunk with the wall.
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"Sorry for the unnecessary stress," says a thoughtful Sainz after his wide moment put his progress in jeopardy.
Right, so who's in this battle for pole? Perez is probably still the favourite but could Alonso get a first F1 pole in approaching 11 years? What a story that would be! Then we still don't really know what the Ferraris can manage but worth remembering Leclerc has a 10-place grid penalty.
Breaking news
Red Bull has confirmed it was a driveshaft problem for Verstappen in that session, which has left him down in 15th on the grid.
Green flag
Right, here we go. Game on! Let the battle for pole commence.
Another queue of cars head out straightaway with Alonso, the Ferraris and Alpines heading out early.
Perez and the Mercedes cars also head out leaving just Stroll and Piastri in the pits.
Alonso is giving his all here as he gets oh-so-close to the barriers! Let's see what the Aston driver can manage.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m28.925s for Alonso and he's displaced by Leclerc on a 1m28.757s!
Ocon goes third, while Sainz is quite a distant fourth
Hamilton then jumps up to third, but it's Russell who then goes up to second, just a tenth slower than Leclerc! This is getting very close!
By: Autosport Staff
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