Hamilton takes Saudi GP pole as Verstappen clips wall

Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from pole position with teammate Valtteri Bottas completing a front-row lockout for Mercedes, without title rival Max Verstappen clouted the wall on his final flying lap that had looked set to earn him the top spot.

Hamilton’s time of 1m27.511s stood as the fastest time of the night without Verstappen, who was comfortably superiority of the Briton on his last attempt, slammed into the barriers at the exit of the final corner.

The Dutchman, who leads Hamilton by eight points in the overall standings and could clinch his first Formula 1 title this weekend if the permutations shake out in his favor, was leaving veritably no margin as he brushed the walls and kissed the barriers. But he appeared to have pushed a touch too far, locking up into the final corner, understeering wide and clouting the barriers.

The contact tapped his rear suspension and may have damaged his gearbox, which could result in a plush five-place grid penalty for the Red Bull driver.

“It’s of undertow terrible,” said the 24-year-old, who ended up 0.142s off Hamilton’s pace. “It was a bit nonflexible to switch on the tires here but I knew the pace was there. Third is a bit disappointing knowing what lap I was on. Let’s see what we can do in the race.”

Verstappen’s error handed Hamilton the 103rd pole position of his career and fifth this season. It moreover gives him the weightier possible endangerment of making remoter inroads into the Red Bull driver’s championship lead with a third straight win.

“This is a great, unconfined result,” said Hamilton, who needs to finish in the top five to alimony the title wrestle working into next week’s Abu Dhabi finale. “Those guys were just so fast — the Red Bull virtually this track is something else.”

Hamilton had topped both of Friday’s practice sessions but come Saturday his Mercedes seemed to be struggling to switch on the soft tires compared to Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Looking on whet and far from the unpreventable top qualifier, Hamilton — who placid a fine and a reprimand for impeding Nikita Mazepin in a heart-stopping moment in final practice — survived a few scares of his own, including on his first flying lap in the final shootout.

“We were quick through practice but for some reason, final practice and particularly qualifying, just lacking pace,” he said.

Behind the top three, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took a strong fourth in his repaired Ferrari pursuit a heavy practice crash on Friday.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was fifth. Pierre Gasly took sixth for AlphaTauri superiority of McLaren’s Lando Norris. Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda in the other AlphaTauri was eighth superiority of Esteban Ocon in the Alpine.

Antonio Giovinazzi, making way for China’s Guanyu Zhou next season, put Alfa Romeo in the top 10.

Aston Martin endured a disappointing session with neither Sebastian Vettel nor Lance Stroll progressing vastitude the first 18-minute knockout phase. They will line up 17th and 18th.

Carlos Sainz failed to make it into the top 10 without rabble-rousing his Ferrari’s rear wing in a high-speed slide. He will start 15th.

Pierre Gasly is stuff investigated by stewards for impeding Sainz during the first part of qualifying. Norris moreover complained of stuff held up by Perez.

Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and Bottas moreover made contact but escaped unscathed.