Verstappen continues perfect start with Jeddah pole

JEDDAH :Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen continued his perfect start to the Formula One season with pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Friday and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc again qualified alongside on the front row.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez, last year's winner in Jeddah in one of only three races that Verstappen did not claim, qualified third for Saturday's race which has been brought forward a day to accommodate Ramadan.

The pole was another first for Verstappen, winner in Jeddah in 2022, who has never previously started from the top slot at the Corniche circuit.

"That was a very lovely qualifying. The car was on rails," the Dutch 26-year-old, who won from pole in Bahrain with the fastest lap and leading from start to finish, said over the team radio.

"Today I felt very comfortable in the car. Throughout qualifying, it was pretty crazy how fast you go around here," he said later.

Saturday will be the fourth successive race that Verstappen and Leclerc have lined up alongside on the front row.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso qualified fourth with Oscar Piastri fifth for McLaren and team mate Lando Norris sixth.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start seventh and eighth for Mercedes with Yuki Tsunoda ninth for RB and Lance Stroll completing the top 10 for Aston Martin.

British 18-year-old Oliver Bearman will make his race debut in 11th place for Ferrari after being drafted in as a late replacement for Carlos Sainz, who developed appendicitis and had surgery on Friday.

(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ken Ferris)