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Stefan Tonev
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Perez clinches pole, as Verstappen retires in Q2 with car issues
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The Mexican stormed to his 2nd consecutive pole in Saudi Arabia in the absence of his elusive teammate

Sergio Perez‘ time of 1:28.265 was enough to secure him his 3rd career pole position ahead of second-placed Charles Leclerc, who is due to serve a 10-place grid penalty, which would put him in 12th place for tomorrow’s race.

The Monegasque suspension means Fernando Alonso will line-up next to Perez on the front row for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Spaniard clocked a time of 1:28.730, nearly half a second adrift from the Red Bull driver.

Mercedes George Russel rounds out the top three, with the British driver outpacing the second Ferrari of Sainz, who will start 4th.

Lewis Hamilton finished unimpressive 8th, which would become 7th after Leclerc serves his penalty, with the seven-time world champion trailing not only his teammate by a significant margin, but falling behind the Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

Lance Stroll finds himself in 5th position with great promise in the car, as the Canadian was on a spectacular lap, but made a mistake in the last sector. Without that error, the Canadian might have secured a front-row start.

The big news from qualifying, however, is Max Verstappen‘s early exit in Q2. The Dutchman dominated all practice sessions, including Q1 with a margin of upto half a second to his teammate and was on course for one of his more comfortable pole positions in his career.

The reigning champion suffered a driveshaft issue and despite bringing his car to the pitlane with 8 minutes to spare, the problem was deemed terminal by the Red Bull mechanics. It remains to be seen whether the Milton Keynes’ team will consider changing some of the parts in Verstappen’s car. If they do not, that would mean the 25-year old will start tomorrow’s race from 15th spot.