Verstappen mugs McLaren as Norris crashes in Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying

McLaren was favourite for top spot heading into the session but ended it with Lando Norris in the wall and Oscar Piastri only second fastest.

Norris crashed out in the opening moments of Qualifying 3 while his teammate missed out on a third career pole by just a tenth of a second.

Without a time to his name, championship-leader Norris will start Sunday’s race from 10th.

Liam Lawson out-qualified his Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar for the first time and will line up 12th, while Jack Doohan will start 17th after being eliminated at the end of Qualifying 1.

The Jeddah Corniche circuit’s high-risk nature saw a queue at the pit exit well ahead of Qualifying 1 beginning, with drivers eager to bank a lap and cover off the chances of a red flag.

That process afforded Lando Norris a slipstream down the front straight to commence his lap as Esteban Ocon completed a 1:29.924s.

The championship leader logged a 1:28.026s in comparison in a neat lap without pushing the boundaries but still half a second clear of Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen was only marginally slower than the McLaren driver, with a 1:28.148s to briefly sit second before Piastri pushed him to third as he went 0.007s faster than his teammate.

George Russell completed the opening flurry, finishing fourth fastest, 0.263s slower than Piastri, with Yuki Tsunoda fifth.

That pushed Leclerc to sixth, ahead of Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon, Isack Hadjar, and Jack Doohan.

Several drivers elected to remain on track, cooling their tyres before a second push lap.

Norris was among them, improving to 1:27.805s as Fernando Alonso rose to sixth and Doohan was bundled down to 15th.

That process concluded with around six minutes remaining, by which point Doohan had slipped into the bottom five.

He was joined by Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Ocon, and Gabriel Bortoleto.

All but Norris were on track in the final three minutes, Piastri and Verstappen were on a set of scrubbed tyres.

Doohan rose only to 14th with his final lap, the Alpine shadowed down the front straight by the canny Alonso, who was beginning his final attempt.

It wasn’t enough for the Aussie, who was ultimately bumped down to 17th and out of the session as others improved.

He was joined by Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg, Ocon, and Bortoleto.

At the other end of the timesheets, Verstappen topped the segment from Norris and Piastri while Ferrari burned up a second set of new tyres to end the segment with Hamilton in ninth and Leclerc 13th.

All 15 surviving drivers headed out immediately as Qualifying 2 began, Piastri the first front runner to log a lap, stopping the clock at 1:27.690s.

Verstappen found more to go fastest with a time 0.161s quicker, much of it gained in the opening third of the lap.

Norris was better again, with a 1:27.481s, a lap more than three-tenths up on his Qualifying 1 effort, aided by a slipstream from Piastri.

Midway through proceedings, the track fell silent as Albon, Oliver Bearman, Hadjar, Alonso, and Lawson, the latter of whom had not set a lap, sat at risk of elimination.

The track came to life again with three minutes remaining as the pack filed back out of the lane.

Albon had run slightly earlier, the Williams rising to sixth before returning to the lane as most began their flying laps.

As the chequered flag waved, Lawson rose to 10th to push Hamilton into the bottom five.

However, the Ferrari driver was able to improve, albeit only to eighth, bumping Lawson back into the bottom five.

He ultimately fell to 12th, one spot behind Albon who was pushed into the drop zone by Tsunoda, the Red Bull driver the last to complete a lap.

Also eliminated were Alonso in 13th, Hadjar in 14th, and Bearman in 15th.

Piastri was the first to set a lap in Qualifying 3, a 1:27.560s set moments before the red flag was shown.

It was waved for Norris in the other McLaren, who crashed at Turn 5 after running wide at the preceding left-hander.

The car ran onto the exit kerb, sending him heavily into the wall and triggering a red flag.

Verstappen had been about to begin a flying lap as the session was interrupted, and was among the first back out on track following the resumption, using the same set of soft tyres.

It was a play for time in the hope he’d be able to get two timed laps in the seven minutes remaining.

That resulted in a provisional pole lap, his 1:27.559s, 0.001s quicker than Piastri had managed.

Impressively, it was a time set carrying more fuel than usual given the limited time remaining in the session.

The Dutchman promptly circled back to the lane for a racing pit stop before heading back out on a set of new tyres for a second attempt.

With just over a minute remaining, Russell moved onto provisional pole, completing his lap as Piastri was beginning his.

It was marginally faster, but behind the Australian, Verstappen was flying.

The McLaren driver managed a 1:27.304s to bump Russell off provisional pole, but it didn’t last.

An incredible lap from Verstappen saw the Red Bull driver steal pole once again, as he’d done in Japan, with a 1:27.294s.

That left Piastri second from Russell, then came Leclerc, Antonelli, Carlos Sainz, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Gasly, and Norris.