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Lewis Hamilton ‘at a loss’ after car issues leave confidence shot
By Phil Duncan, in Jeddah
Lewis Hamilton has admitted he is lost and running low on confidence after another sobering evening in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Hamilton posted only the eighth-quickest time in Jeddah, 0.958sec adrift of Sergio Perez, who starts on pole position for Sunday’s race after Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen’s night ended prematurely with a mechanical failure. The double world champion will line up in 15th.
Fernando Alonso joins Perez on the front row for his rejuvenated Aston Martin team, with George Russell third, four-tenths clear of Hamilton in the other Mercedes.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified second, but he is bumped down the order with an engine penalty. Hamilton will start seventh.
Twenty-four races have passed since Hamilton took the last of his record 103 victories following a monumental scrap with Verstappen here in Jeddah during the final throes of their titanic 2021 title battle. But that triumph will seem like a distant memory for Hamilton, who cast a sullen figure in the moments after an underwhelming night’s work by the Red Sea.
“George did a great job, and he’s right up there on the second row, so the car’s obviously got performance,” said the seven-time world champion. “But I don’t feel connected to this car. No matter what I do, no matter what I change, I can’t get confidence in it. I’m at a bit of a loss with it.”
Hamilton’s future in the sport remains a hot topic. The 38-year-old is out of contract at the end of the year, and in the build-up to Sunday’s race, team principal Toto Wolff admitted for the first time that he would not blame Hamilton for leaving Mercedes if the once dominant team fail to halt their slump.
And although Hamilton insisted he is committed to the Mercedes cause, he tellingly revealed he is getting little satisfaction from being so far off the front. In Bahrain, he crossed the line fifth, a whopping 51 seconds behind winner Verstappen.
“I love this team, and I’m so grateful for everyone that’s been on the journey with me,” he said. “I don’t envisage being anywhere else. I don’t see myself quitting. I don’t feel like I am a quitter. But I wouldn’t say that it’s giving me a lot. I have been there, done that, got the T-shirt many times. I am trying to be patient and work with the team to get us to a good place. But I couldn’t get any more out of the car today. I’ve got to keep trying.”
'I have a problem' 😮
Not the radio message the Red Bull garage wanted to hear! 📻 pic.twitter.com/Mpt9Q52PK5— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 18, 2023
Hamilton’s preparations have been overshadowed by his sudden split from performance coach Angela Cullen. The New Zealander has been a key fixture of Hamilton’s inner circle for the past seven years.
“Me and Ange are good,” said Hamilton as he downplayed paddock rumour of a rift. “She’s moving on to a different phase in her life. We’re still super-close, and have been texting every day.
“She’s massively supportive and I’m massively supportive of her. I’m so grateful to have had her with me on this journey. She’s one of my closest friends and she continues to be.”
It was a gloomy night for Verstappen, too. The defending champion had been the odds-on favourite for top spot under the lights after he finished first in all three practice sessions.
But drama struck when a suspected driveshaft failure hit Verstappen’s Red Bull. He gingerly limped back to the pits, but with fewer than seven minutes of Q2 remaining, his mechanics were unable to resolve the issue.
Verstappen’s qualifying was over, and his father Jos removed his headphones despondently at the back of the Red Bull garage.
He will now have to carve his way through the field at the fastest street circuit on the Formula One calendar and the Dutchman has not ruled out fighting for a victory.
“It was the first time I heard about that [issue]. Coming out of Turn 10 it happens, which is very annoying for it to happen,” Verstappen said. “I think we so far had a really good weekend, and every time we went on track the car was working really well.
“So, now it’s a bit more tricky to get to the front, but it’s all about scoring points. It’s a very long season, of course, I would have hoped to start a bit further up the road, but we cannot change that now.”
When asked whether he believed he could still challenge for the victory, he added: “Anything is possible at this track. We’ve seen a lot of crazy things, but also we have to stay a little bit realistic,” he said. “It’s going to be tough, but we have good pace.”
Heavenly gift hands Alonso shot at first win in a decade
By Tom Cary
Even allowing for Red Bull’s huge speed advantage, George Russell’s gloomy prediction in Bahrain two weekends ago that Max Verstappen might win “all 23 races” this year felt far-fetched.
Merely going on the law of averages, the Dutchman was always going to suffer some sort of mechanical or mishap at some point. We just did not expect one this quickly.
Verstappen’s apparent drive-shaft failure during second qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit yesterday has spiced up what is already one of the spiciest races on the calendar no end.
If Verstappen is to win now – and he may very well do – he is going to have to carve his way through the field from 15th. That is no easy feat on a high-speed circuit that in its two runnings so far has produced plenty of action.
With the walls so close, the corners so blind, the closing speeds so high, and the potential for carnage around every corner, it will certainly be some gauntlet that Verstappen will have to run. And not just him. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will be starting 12th today after his 10-place grid drop for yet another change of electronic control unit.
They will have to keep their wits about them. This track has been modified to make it slightly less dangerous but it still has the potential to be wild.
The inaugural race in Jeddah two years ago, the penultimate race of that incredible season, saw two red flags, multiple high-speed crashes and three different leaders before Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton eventually won to draw level with Verstappen on 369.5 points. Hamilton even called Verstappen “f------ crazy” as the pair wrestled on the track and bickered over the radio.
No one expected them to be fighting again this year, given Mercedes’ woes, but then no one could account for what happened in Q2.
Verstappen had been the odds-on favourite to race to top spot under the lights in Jeddah after he topped all three practice sessions in his dominant Red Bull machine.
But drama struck for the Dutchman as he limped gingerly back to the pits. With fewer than seven minutes remaining, his mechanics were unable to resolve the failure in time.
"I have a problem" 😮
Not the radio message the Red Bull garage wanted to hear! 📻 pic.twitter.com/Mpt9Q52PK5— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 18, 2023
Verstappen’s qualifying was dramatically over and his father Jos removed his headphones despondently at the back of the Red Bull garage. Verstappen’s premature end levelled up the playing field and all eyes were suddenly on Alonso and whether the Spaniard, in his rejuvenated Aston Martin, might capture his first pole since the German Grand Prix in 2012.
But it was Perez who marched to the second pole of his career at the same venue where he claimed his maiden qualifying triumph a year ago. Leclerc finished 0.155 seconds adrift, with Alonso almost half-a-second back.
However, Alonso will be promoted to the front row thanks to Leclerc’s penalty. Russell finished six tenths back and the best part of four tenths clear of Hamilton on an underwhelming evening on the Red Sea for the seven-time world champion. Not as underwhelming as Lando Norris’s though. The McLaren driver exited in Q1 after he banged his McLaren into the wall at the 27th and final bend. He stopped for repairs, but his team were unable to fix the damage to the front-left of his machine, leaving the British driver a lowly 19th.
Only Williams’ Logan Sargeant will start behind Norris after the American rookie failed to get a lap together in an error-strewn Q1.
All eyes will be on the front of the race today, though, rather than the back. Can Alonso, whose Aston Martin has been the surprise package of early season, snag that first race win for a decade, since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix? The Spaniard is a famously fast starter and will put serious pressure on Perez when the lights go out. Perhaps Russell or Carlos Sainz can win a second race in their careers.
They may not get a better chance all season. Russell may have been exaggerating when he said Verstappen would win all 23 races (in fact, so gloomy was his prediction it may well have been intended more as a message for the sport’s powerbrokers, a warning that unless they did something to rein in Red Bull this season could prove a massive turn-off to fans) but the truth is Red Bull do enjoy a huge advantage over the rest of the field and the likelihood is – as Hamilton hinted earlier this week – they were holding back in Bahrain.
Verstappen could still do it. He won from 14th on the grid in Spa last year. But this is an unexpected opportunity. Someone surely needs to grab this gift from the racing gods.
Saudi Arabian GP qualifying classification
Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1min 28.265secs
Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:28.420
Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:28.730
George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.857
Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Ferrari 1:28.931
Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:28.945
Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:29.078
Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:29.223
Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:29.243
Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:29.357
Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) MoneyGram Haas F1 1:29.451
Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake 1:29.461
Kevin Magnussen (Den) MoneyGram Haas F1 1:29.517
Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake 1:29.668
Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:49.953
Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:29.939
Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:29.994
Nyck de Vries (Ned) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:30.244
Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:30.447
Logan Sargeant (USA) Williams 2:08.510
Perez takes pole as Verstappen hits trouble: As it happened
06:26 PM
A reminder of the full order in that session
The grid will be rejigged once penalties are applied.
PER
LEC
ALO
RUS
SAI
STR
OCO
HAM
PIA
GAS
HUL
ZHO
MAG
BOT
VER
TSU
ALB
DEV
NOR
SAR
06:20 PM
George Russell speaks to Sky Sports
"I definitely would have taken that. Very happy. The car felt good, we know we're lacking a bit of overall downforce. Really pleased with that. Back when I was with Williams and Fernando in Alpine we had a couple of tussles together. It's going to be an interesting race. Sometimes the race strategy can be dictated by incidents... VSC, safety car."
He expects Verstappen to race through the field. I don't think he is the only one.
06:19 PM
A chunky gap between Russell in fourth and Hamilton in eighth
0.366sec in fact. Not sure there has been a gap that big between the pair and with Hamilton on the losing end of it since the 2022 race at Imola. The gap then was 0.381sec... would have to dig into that. I'll get back to you on that one.
Either way it's a big gap and Hamilton never really looked in it. Strange.
06:16 PM
Fernando Alonso reacts to third
He will start on the front row tomorrow... and seems pretty bullish. And why not?
"It has been a very good weekend for us, qualifying was our weak point in Bahrain but today the car seemed to perform very well on one lap. But let's see what tomorrow what we can do.
"We are confident, I think the gap on the lung run yesterday was affected by traffic. The strongest part of the car is the long run pace and how we treat the tyres so should be better on Sunday than Saturday."
06:12 PM
Charles Leclerc has mixed emotions
"Happy? Yes and no. On one hand it's been a very difficult weekend in terms of pace. I am very happy with my lap, I put everything into it. On the other hand, Red Bull are on another planet and we are struggling.
"We will focus on the race and hopefully come back to the front as quickly as possible. The race pace looked quite good but it's very difficult to compare because in FP2 everybody has a difficult program. I feel everybody is close in the race pace."
06:10 PM
Sergio Perez reacts to his pole
"It was tricky that Q3, especially not getting the second lap... you really feel the Formula One cars coming alive in this place. With the issue we had into the final run, it was really important as the track was improving.
"It's a shame, Max has been really strong the whole weekend, hopefully tomorrow we can have both cars up there. As you know with these cars, reliability can hit you at any time."
06:05 PM
Q3 - Classification
PER 1:28.265
LEC +0.155
ALO +0.465
RUS +0.592
SAI +0.666
STR +0.680
OCO +0.813
HAM +0.958
PIA +0.978
GAS +1.092
06:04 PM
SERGIO PEREZ TAKES POLE POSITION FOR THE 2023 SAUDI ARABIA GRAND PRIX
Tidy enough in the end and did the job when Verstappen hit trouble. Took pole here last year but couldn't convert it to the victory. He has a better chance of that tomorrow.
Alonso qualified third but will start on the front row after Leclerc's grid penalty.
06:03 PM
Q3 - Hamilton stays seventh...
Leclerc goes second! Just 0.155s off Perez, who did not improve... But Leclerc take a penalty... so will start 12th!
Sainz is on a decent lap, can he take the front row? Nope. Only fifth...
06:02 PM
Q3 - Alonso fails to get pole
But it's good enough for second, so far... Stroll and Leclerc might beat him to the front row, though...
And what about Russell?
Stroll gets lairy in the final sector. Good lap so far...
Leclerc is within 0.060s of Perez after two sectors.
Stroll stays fifth...
06:00 PM
Q3 - Alonso improves his lap after two sectors
It will require a mighty final sector to beat him, he was within 0.14s after two sectors...
What can he do?
06:00 PM
Q3 - Russell comes out of the pits...
...and gets right in the way of Sainz as he does so. Not his fault but that could result in a penalty.
Alonso is 0.032s off Perez's fastest time in sector one, but he isn't faster than he was on his first run...
05:59 PM
Q3 - Piastri into ninth, briefly
But then once Stroll crosses the line, he is down into 10th. Stroll's lap was decent, into fifth and within a tenth of team-mate Alonso.
05:57 PM
Q3 - Order and gaps after the first runs
Piastro and Stroll yet to set times.
PER 1:28.265
LEC +0.492
RUS +0.607
ALO +0.660
HAM +0.958
OCO +1.020
SAI +1.057
GAS +1.390
PIA (no time)
STR (no time)
Bafflingly slow from Hamilton, almost. Can he claw any of that back on the next run?
05:56 PM
Q3 - Russell worried about damage
He had a bit kerb hit at high speed and pulls into the pits.
05:55 PM
Q3 - No surprise, Perez takes top spot
He crosses the line nearly half a second faster than Leclerc.
Can anyone else beat that, even if Perez does not improve on his second run? I am not hopeful.
05:54 PM
Q3 - Russell into second
0.115s off Leclerc's time and less than a tenth ahead of Alonso. Also about three tenths faster than Hamilton.
Perez is two tenths up on Leclerc after two sectors.
Provisional pole incoming?
05:54 PM
Q3 - Alonso sets a 1:28.925
That was a couple of tenths slower than his fastest Q2 time.
Leclerc has done a fine middle sector and beats Alonso by 0.168s. Ocon third, Sainz fourth (on used tyres) and Gasly fifth.
The two Mercedes cars and the remaining Red Bull of Sergio Perez are on their hot laps.
05:52 PM
Q3 - Alonso sets a 32.116 in sector one
Sainz in the Ferrari is on used softs. Alonso on new softs.
A 28.251s for Alonso in the second sector...
Perez has only just left the pit lane.
05:51 PM
Q3 begins!
12 minutes, 10 men, and one pole position. Who is the favourite? Perez, just. Alonso second favourite but is definitely in this.
05:51 PM
Verstappen speaks after his retirement
It's the first time I heard about it. Coming out of turn 10 it happened. So far we had a really good weekend, every session was going well... it will be a bit more tricky to get to the front but it's all about scoring points.
05:48 PM
Red Bull confirm the issue for Verstappen
Q2 Final Update: Driveshaft mechanical failure confirmed for Car 1.
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 18, 2023
I do think F1 was better when we had worse reliability. It was certainly more unpredictable and had more jeopardy.
05:46 PM
Very fine effort from Piastri to get into Q3
Norris bunged it into the wall and will start 19th tomorrow.
Not. Done. Yet. 💪
Q3, let’s do this!#SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/fVMNNcprEg— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 18, 2023
Just what the Australian needed after a difficult debut last week where he did not finish.
05:44 PM
Q2 - Classification
PER 1:28.635
ALO +0.122
LEC +0.268
SAI +0.322
STR +0.327
RUS +0.497
OCO +0.620
HAM +0.739
PIA +0.743
GAS +0.776
OUT:HUL
ZHO
MAG
BOT
VER
05:43 PM
Q2 - Sainz into fourth... but who is at risk?
Two Ferraris into Q3.
Magnussen fails to get into Q3, losing out to his team-mate for the second time in a row.
Perez takes the fastest lap of the session by just over a tenth from Alonso.
And Gasly, at the very death, sneaks into the top 10 and knocks Hulkenberg out!
05:42 PM
Q2 - Sainz aborts his fast lap, and will try another
No mistakes here...
Can Hulkneberg find some lap time from 14th? Piastri moves into seventh with a decent lap, Zhou into eighth, which means Bottas is out.
Stroll into fourth. Hulkenberg into eighth now, pushing Magnussen out of the top 10.
05:39 PM
Q2 - Final runs under way
Bottas cannot improve and is out of the session, Piastri is lingering dangerously in 10th.
What can Russell do? Fourth, but still 0.375s off Alonso... Ahead of Hamilton by a few tenths nearly.
Carlos Sainz begins his fast lap.
I did say it was interesting behind Verstappen.
05:37 PM
Q2 - Order and gaps after the first runs
ALO 1:28.757
PER +0.117
LEC +0.146
STR +0.493
OCO +0.730
RUS +0.755
MAG +0.877
HAM +0.938
GAS +0.965
PIA +1.062
DROP ZONE:SAI
BOT
ZHO
HUL
VER
05:35 PM
Q2 - Verstappen is out of his car
And out of qualifying... that's big.
Max is out of the car and will take no further part in qualifying 💔#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/OZbjkCPvjX
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 18, 2023
05:34 PM
Q2 - Ooh, Verstappen has a problem...
He can move gears, I think... no, maybe not, he's stuck in third and is just trying to nurse it around the track. It doesn't sound good and crucially he does not have a lap on the board.
"I have a problem" 😮
Not the radio message the Red Bull garage wanted to hear! 📻 pic.twitter.com/Mpt9Q52PK5— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 18, 2023
Still eight minutes to go in this session.
He was on a straight and the revs went very high, almost disengaging.
He gets to the pit lane entry and Red Bull say they are happy for him to get there, rather than pulling to the side of the track and retiring to prevent any more damage.
05:32 PM
Q2 - Mercedes drivers out on used soft tyres
We see a replay for Verstappen, who has a big moment in the high-speed twiddly section.
Leclerc into second, Stroll third and Hulkenberg, who is going well here, fourth.
Mercedes drivers 0.755s (Russell) and nearly a whole second off the pace (Hamilton).
05:30 PM
Q2 - 11 mins to go
Zhou is the first driver to set a lap time, but Bottas beats that by a quarter of a second, before Fernando Alonso beats him by 1.254sec, with a very good lap.
05:27 PM
Q2 begins!
15 minutes to go, five drivers to be eliminated and 10 to go through to Q3.
05:26 PM
In other words...
The gap between Verstappen (P1) and Perez (P2): 0.483s The gap between Perez (P2) and Ocon (P12): 0.463s.
05:24 PM
Well, if you take Verstappen out...
...then there's under 0.2sec between second and sixth and exactly half a second between Perez and Magnussen in 13th.
05:22 PM
Q1 - Classification
VER 1:28.761
PER +0.483
ALO +0.537
STR +0.574
LEC +0.615
SAI +0.650
HUL +0.786
RUS +0.831
ZHO +0.893
HAM +0.928
PIA +0.945
OCO +0.946
MAG +0.983
GAS +1.129
BOT +1.168
OUT: TSU, ALB, DEV, NOR, SAR
05:21 PM
Q1 ends - Verstappen fastest
Tsunoda, Albon, De Vries, Norris and Sargeant eliminated.
05:21 PM
Q1 - De Vries eliminated
Piastri has one last chance to get into Q2... can he do it? Yes! McLaren avoid a double disaster.
05:20 PM
Q1 - Gasly into 11th
Piastri now in danger and Bottas relegated to the drop zone.
Alonso has moved up into third, faster than Leclerc.
Stroll, his Aston Martin team-mate, is in 12th and is improving... improves to fourth.
Zhou up into ninth, Piastri finds himself in the drop zone. A double elimination for McLaren here?
05:19 PM
Q1 - Sainz now has a lap time deleted
Tsunoda, De Vries, Gasly and Sargeant are trying to get out. Ocon, Bottas and Albon are the men who are vulnerable unless they improve.
Alpine looked to have some pace yesterday but both drivers need to find it here, under pressure.
Albon moves up to 11 to give himself a little more breathing room.
Ocon improves to seventh, too.
05:17 PM
Q1 - Some work going on on Lando Norris's car
Not sure he'll be able to get out so he's almost certainly going to be out of the session and will start 16th at absolute best.
05:16 PM
Q1 - Three minutes remain
Norris, Tsunoda, De Vries, Gasly and Sargeant are the men in the drop zone as it stands.
05:15 PM
Q1 - YELLOW FLAGS
Logan Sargeant isn't quite in the wall, so he must have spun. He spin-turns and gets back going. He is down in last after having his earlier lap time deleted. His team-mate Albon is 12th.
05:15 PM
Q1 - Alonso gets his lap sorted this time
He moves fourth, 0.643s off Verstappen's time but just behind Leclerc.
05:14 PM
Q1 - Top 10 and gaps
VER 1:28.761
PER +0.500
LEC +0.615
RUS +0.831
HAM +0.928
SAI +0.968
HUL +1.026
MAG +1.111
ZHO +1.315
PIA +1.363
05:13 PM
Q1 - Alonso lost it coming out of turn two
Too keen to get on the throttle and lost the rear. Leclerc has moved up into third and Sainz sixth, the two Mercedes between them, but a long, long way off the time of Verstappen.
05:11 PM
Q1 - Alonso's turn for a spin
Eight minutes remain. It's fairly chaotic out there at the moment and it is about to become even more so.
Norris hits the wall and damages his front-left and has to return to the pit lane.
Lando hits the wall! 😯 pic.twitter.com/rX61hTVdxS
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 18, 2023
05:10 PM
Q1 - How they stand
VER
PER
HUL
MAG
RUS
LEC
ZHO
PIA
HAM
ALB
BOT
NOR
TSU
DEV
SAI
DROP ZONE: SAR, GAS, OCO, ALO, STR
The bottom five have yet to set a time, FYI.
05:09 PM
Q1 - No lap from Aston Martin yet
Are they saving tyres?
05:09 PM
Q1 - Verstappen now the fastest man
He beats his team-mate Sergio Perez by exactly half a second. A quick update on the order will be coming soon, but we still have six drivers yet to set a time.
05:08 PM
Q1 - Perez goes fastest by six-tenths
Hamilton gets a slipstream from an AlphaTauri and goes fourth before Russell beats him by just over a tenth.
05:07 PM
Q1 - Hulkenberg leads in the early stages
Leclerc is two tenths down on the Haas's time. Felt very weird typing that. Albon third, Magnussen fourth in the other Haas. Sainz is currently 10th and last of the drivers who have actually set a time.
What's going on at Ferrari?
05:07 PM
Q1 - Maybe that Sargeant lap is actually very good?
He's the fastest of the nine drivers to set a time so far, which I was not expecting.
Sainz and Leclerc in the Ferraris are about two sectors through their laps and Sainz is well off Sargeant's pace... and Leclerc is better but, as it turns out, Sargeant loses his time for exceeding track limits.
05:05 PM
Q1 - Albon posts a 1:30.167
No idea how good that is. Not that good because his team-mate beats it by nearly half a second about 10 seconds later.
De Vries lost the rear end at turn one as he put the brakes on and did well to keep it out of the wall.
Nyck de Vries goes for a spin in Q1 🌀 pic.twitter.com/IUPkymdlIC
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 18, 2023
05:04 PM
Q1 - 16 mins remain
It'll be Alexander Albon who sets the first timed lap of the session for Williams. Everyone out there, though, so expect to see drivers turning the airwaves blue as they curse about traffic.
Nyck de Vries appears to have spun at turn one...
05:01 PM
GREEN LIGHT: Q1 begins!
18 minutes to go, five drivers eliminated at the end of the session and 15 go through to the second part of the session.
04:51 PM
10 minutes to go
Predictions? Well, not really worth trying to predict who gets pole. I think Norris will get into Q3, Albon will be 12th and at least one Mercedes will not make it out of Q3.
04:46 PM
Qualifying will be a tough task for Nyck de Vries
He had no running in FP3 and as a rookie this is a track where you need to spend time in the car and on the black stuff. He has not had that and had to watch final practice from the pit wall.
Quite frankly he will have done well if he gets his AlphaTauri off the back row.
04:43 PM
Here's a reminder of how the teams rate in raw pace so far
Admittedly this is only after one qualifying session, but it gives you some idea of how things are stacking up early on. I would expect it to change a bit throughout the first few races, though.
04:40 PM
Ferrari not even two races in and they are changing parts a-plenty
Why? Team principal Frederic Vasseur explains why to Sky Sports F1...
Frédéric Vasseur explains why Ferrari have changed power units on both their cars 👇 pic.twitter.com/glBtXL238g
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 18, 2023
04:30 PM
On that last point of Hamilton's future
Where else would he go, though? It's not like Ferrari or anyone else are close to challenging Red Bull, is it? Aston Martin have made a huge step forward, yes, but closing the gap to the team leaders is quite another thing.
He can't have many more years left in F1, though. He might just have to sit by and watch as Verstappen racks up the victories. But we will see. We aren't even two races into 2023 yet.
04:26 PM
Lewis Hamilton could leave Mercedes unless car improves, Toto Wolff warns
Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes unless they can give him a winning car soon, Toto Wolff has warned.
Speaking ahead of qualifying for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the Mercedes team principal said he would not blame Hamilton for seeking a move away if they failed to turn things around.
04:20 PM
Watch: A Norris/Verstappen near miss
A close one...
"It's dangerous what these guys are doing...that could have been a massive crash" 📻
Lando Norris is not happy over team radio 😡 pic.twitter.com/is2iwDuRYt— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 18, 2023
04:10 PM
This track is an unforgiving one
Last year Mick Schumacher had a bit shunt in the Haas (not his first or last). I wonder if we will see a red flag in qualifying today, when all drivers are pushing.
I am going to say yeah: Tsunoda.
04:05 PM
Current constructors' standings
Just McLaren, Haas and AlphaTauri left to score after the opening round. Things are looking a little better for McLaren after a very difficult weekend in Bahrain a fortnight ago. Would be more surprised if they didn't get on the board this weekend, though reliability was probably what stopped them scoring in round one.
04:00 PM
Current championship standings: drivers
Will Verstappen extend his lead this weekend? I would not bet against it.
03:54 PM
Third practice times
Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:28.485
Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:29.098
Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:29.483
Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:29.509
Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:29.568
Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:29.588
Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:29.690
Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:29.698
Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:29.701
Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Ferrari 1:29.761
George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:29.811
Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:29.917
Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas F1 Team 1:29.933
Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:29.953
Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:29.983
Logan Sargeant (USA) Williams 1:30.035
Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 Team 1:30.131
Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:30.317
Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:30.797
Nyck de Vries (Ned) Scuderia AlphaTauri (no time)
02:42 PM
Good afternoon F1 fans
And welcome, once again, to our live Formula One coverage. This afternoon we have the qualifying session for the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. It is the third time in roughly 18 months that a grand prix has been held here, after its debut towards the end of the 2021 season.
So far we've had two memorable races, and Max Verstappen has been heavily involved in both of them. In 2021 it was a memorable and slightly controversial duel with Lewis Hamilton in an unforgettable season and last year it was a tight battle with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
What hope of a similarly thrilling edition this year? Well, for that to be the case I think we'd have to have both Red Bulls taken out at the first corner. Continuing their prowess ahead of the field in the opening race in Bahrain, they dominated final practice this afternoon, too.
Max Verstappen, the defending champion and the fastest man in FP1 and FP2 yesterday, was again ahead of the field in final practice. And, yes, it was his team-mate Sergio Perez who was in second, some six-tenths adrift. The fastest non-Red Bull car was Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin, who was 0.998sec slower than Verstappen. The conditions will be different come qualifying under lights in an hour or so but that feels like a very bad sign for any hope of a competitive weekend.
Alonso's team-mate Lance Stroll was fourth, within a tenth of the sister car, then came Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, all between a second and 1.2sec off Verstappen's ultimate time. Pierre Gasly in the Alpine and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz rounded off the top 10 in the one-hour session.
Of course, we don't want to spend the entire season moaning about the dominance of one team or one driver, but when that is almost the only story of the day (Alonso and Aston Martin's resurgence aside...), then it seems a bit rum to ignore it. We've been here before too often in F1 and surely nobody outside of Red Bull wants it again. When the ongoing joke was about F1 and F1.5 at least there were two or three teams out front and then the midfield.
Anyway, let's not get too despondent. Maybe Ferrari or someone will spring a surprise. The good thing is that the midfield is incredibly tight. In FP3 there was just 0.552sec between Alonso in third and Logan Sargeant in 16th. Compare that to the 0.998sec between Verstappen and Alonso...
Anyway, qualifying begins at 5pm GMT and we will be here with all the build-up, latest updates and lap times and reaction.
