Saudi Arabian GP: Perez edges out Ferraris for first career F1 pole position

Jeddah [Saudi Arabia], March 27 : Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez claimed his first career pole position at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by two-hundredths of a second to claim top spot in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz was third for Ferrari while defending world champion Max Verstappen will line up fourth for Sunday's race.
The session had paused for an hour during Q2 after a violent high-speed crash for Haas' Mick Schumacher, who was extricated to the medical centre - where no injuries where revealed - and later to hosptial for precautionary checks.
Nicholas Latifi had also earlier triggered red flags as he swiped the wall in Q1 - a session that saw Lewis Hamilton make a shock exit in 16th. Hamilton's teammate George Russell only just squeezed into Q3, but rallied to eventually claim sixth, fractions behind Alpine's Esteban Ocon.
Alpine's Fernando Alonso and Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas claimed a share of the fourth row, just ahead of Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen in the lead AlphaTauri and Haas respectively.
McLaren suffered a double exit in Q2, as late gains for Gasly and Magnussen lifted both drivers out of the drop zone - and bumped Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo to a provisional 11th and 12th respectively.