F1 LIVE: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix latest updates as Charles Leclerc takes lead from Sergio Perez

LIVE – Updated at 18:48

Follow latest updates from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Sergio Perez starts on pole for the first time in his F1 career. The Mexican put together an impeccible lap around the tight streets of Jeddah in Q3 to put himself on the front of the grid, where he will have the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in his mirrors starting second and third.

Perez’s teammate Max Verstappen begins fourth, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon a very creditable fifth and Mercedes’ George Russell sixth. Lewis Hamilton starts the race 15th after a disastrous qualifying saw him struggle and exit at Q1.

Meanwhile a Saudi GP marshal has been removed after saying on Twitter he hoped seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton suffered an accident similar to Romain Grosjean’s fiery crash in Bahrain in 2020. A spokesman for Formula One’s governing body said the unnamed marshal, writing in Arabic, would play no further part in the race weekend in Jeddah.

Mick Schumacher suffered a high-speed crash during qualifying and was airlifted to hospital, and the 23-year-old will not participate despite being given a positive assessment after medical checks. Follow all the latest updates from Saudi Arabia below.

LAP 25/50: Lewis Hamilton has learned his lesson and waits until the DRS straight to make the move on Magnussen this time, lounging late down the inside at Turn 1 and squeezing the Dane tight so that he can’t fight back.

After starting fourteenth, Hamilton is now up to sixth-place in this race. Solid movement.

LAP 24/50: Lewis Hamilton overtakes Kevin Magnussen very easily into the final hairpin, but the Dane has a trick up his sleeve.

The Haas driver seemed to allow the Mercedes past so he would have DRS on the next