Perez claims 'unbelievable' pole at 215th attempt, Schumacher in horror crash

JEDDAH: Sergio Perez claimed his first ever Formula One pole at the 215th attempt when the Mexican upstaged Red Bull teammate and world champion Max Verstappen in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday (Mar 26).

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc joins Perez on the front row with Verstappen on the second row after qualifying in fourth behind the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

Saturday's qualifying was marred by a horror crash suffered by Mick Schumacher, which ruled him out of the race, and Lewis Hamilton's shock elimination in the opening Q1 session for the first time since 2017.

It was a dramatic session coming just hours after it was confirmed the weekend action would go ahead following lengthy talks overnight about racing in the aftermath of Friday's missile strike by Yemen's Huthi rebels on the nearby Aramco fuel plant.

"It took me a couple of races! But what a lap man, it was unbelievable!" said Perez, the first Mexican to head an F1 grid.

"I could do 2,000 laps and I couldn't beat that one! he added.

Verstappen described his first lap in Q3 as "terrible", adding: "I didn't really feel comfortable. Checo did a great job today and I am very happy for him."

Red Bull will now be hoping for better luck on Sunday than in the season-opener in Bahrain last week when both their cars failed to finish in a race won by Leclerc.

Leclerc, who looked set to confirm his early season pace with pole before Perez produced a flying last lap, said: "I didn't expect Checo (Perez) to come with that lap time so congratulations to him."

In Q2, Schumacher was the victim of a high speed crash after his Haas car bounced off the Jeddah street circuit barrier at around 240kmh after clipping a kerb.

The 23-year-old son of German F1 legend Michael