Hamilton Secures Saudi Arabia GP Pole When Verstappen Hits Guardrail

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates after taking pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Corniche Circuit, Jeddah (Giuseppe Acace/Reuters Via Antara)

JAKARTA - Lewis Hamilton took pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday, December 5 when his Red Bull rival Max Verstappen crashed into the guardrail at the last corner on his final lap of qualifying.

Hamilton looked overwhelmed with understeer throughout Q3 but he was able to bring his Mercedes fastest on the final lap with a record of 1:27,511, according to the official Formula 1 website.

Hamilton, who is eight points behind leader Verstappen, will be joined by team-mate Valtteri Bottas who has helped Mercedes seal two front-row starting positions.

Verstappen, who looks to seal the world title this weekend in Jeddah, was the fastest of his rivals in his last attempt at qualifying.

The Red Bull driver was barely 0.2 seconds ahead of Hamilton's lap time in the first two sectors but he missed a golden opportunity for pole position when he nudged the guardrail at the last corner to end his effort.

Verstappen's best time was enough to put him in P3, but there are concerns about whether he suffered a gearbox malfunction in the crash, which would have resulted in a component change having been penalized five positions back.

Charles Leclerc finished P4 for Ferrari while another Red Bull driver Sergio Perez had to settle for P5.

"That looks like the best lap of the year", said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner of Verstappen's last attempt before the crash.

"A very, very great lap. He came off quite a shock."

Verstappen looked unhappy with the end of the session which was quite promising.

"I know I have speed and it shows in the end. I don't really understand what happened but I found the tires locked. I was still trying to keep the car on the track and going but the rear was damaged and had to stop", he said.

Hamilton chased a hat-trick after victories in Brazil and Qatar to close the gap on Verstappen and he is satisfied with this qualifying result.

"For us to get a one-two, I'm very proud of Valtteri and the men and women on our team who have worked so hard. It's a great result", Hamilton said.

The pole was the 103rd in the Briton's career and his fifth this season.

Pierre Gasly continued his impressive form in the AlphaTauri and secured the P6 after beating McLaren's Lando Norris.

Yuki Tsunoda brought the second AlphaTauri car in P8 as Esteban Ocon and Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the top ten for the Alpine and Alfa Romeo teams.

Daniel Ricciardo failed to follow in the footsteps of his McLaren teammates into the top ten as the Australian had to settle for P11, ahead of Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz was surprisingly eliminated in Q2 after briefly losing control of his Ferrari and suffering minor damage to the rear wing due to hitting the guardrail. The Spaniard will start P15 in tomorrow's race.