Max Verstappen hits wall to hand Lewis Hamilton pole for Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Verstappen hits wall to hand Hamilton pole for Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Mercedes driver claims 103rd pole of his F1 career

Ian Parkes

Saturday 4 December 2021 19:07 Updated: 20:09

Max Verstappen handed Lewis Hamilton pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on a plate after hitting a wall at the final corner when on course to land top spot on the grid.

The Red Bull driver was two-tenths of a second up through the first two sectors at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, only to slide into a concrete barrier as he emerged onto the start-finish straight.

It means Hamilton will start from pole for the 103rd time in his F1 career, and for the first time this season clinching back-to-back poles after leading away the field in Qatar a fortnight ago.

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For Mercedes, Verstappen's mistake also guaranteed a front-row lockout as Valtteri Bottas lines up second, with the Finn owing a huge debt of thanks to his mechanics after performing an engine change in between final practice and qualifying.

It leaves Verstappen, who holds an eight-point cushion going into the final two races of the year, lining up third ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

A major question mark now hangs over Verstappen as to whether he may have damaged his gearbox given the heavy clout with the wall.

On his first flying lap in Q3, Hamilton suffered a heart-stopping moment as he almost lost his W12 through turns 10 and 11, just managing to keep control before salvaging the situation on the second hot lap on the same set of tyres.

Verstappen's first flying lap, though, was four-tenths of a second quicker with a time of 1:27.653s before Bottas slotted in between the two title protagonists.

On his second run, however, Hamilton delivered a time 0.142s quicker than his title rival to sit on provisional pole, and just when he looked to be usurped, Verstappen delivered his error that could prove costly.

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly qualified sixth but is under investigation for impeding Carlos Sainz in his Ferrari during the first session.

McLaren's Lando Norris currently starts seventh and is the only driver in the top 10 who will line up on the soft tyres, with the other nine on the medium compound.

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunonda was eighth, while on the fifth row, Alpine's Esteban Ocon qualified ninth ahead of a superb display from Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi.

McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo will start 11th, losing out on a place in the top 10 by just 0.052s to Giovinazzi whose team-mate Kimi Raikkonen starts 12th.

At the end of an all-action Q2, though, Giovinazzi touched a wall with his left-rear tyre while Bottas and Raikkonen brushed wheels.

Alpine's Fernando Alonso could only manage 13th, just over a third of a second in the session behind team-mate Ocon, while Williams' George Russell starts 14th.

For Sainz, the 15-minute outing was a disaster as his first timed lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at turn four.

On his second run, the Spanish driver spun going over the kerb at turn 11, clipping a wall with the right-hand edge of his rear wing, necessitating a change.

Once back on track, Sainz suffered another minor incident that wrecked his final run, ultimately failing to set a representative time, with his best lap a 1:53.652s, leading to him lining up a wretched 15th.

Q1 was fascinating given the ramping up of the track throughout the 18-minute run, with Perez emerging quickest from Bottas, who complained of a misfiring engine late on.

For Aston Martin, though, the session was the team's worst of the year as Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll will start a miserable 17th and 18th.

Stroll, though, was particularly unfortunate as he came across a gaggle of cars just as he embarked on his final hot lap.

Williams' Nicholas Latifi also exited Q1 and will start 16th, with Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin unsurprisingly on the back row for Haas.