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With the first day of the Saudi Arabian GP out of the way, keeping the off-track story aside, some questions did get answered during the two Free Practice sessions.
There have been some key developments in the pecking order as well. Now that we have the day's learnings with us, let's get to the fun part of the weekend where we make our predictions for the Saudi Arabian GP qualifying session.
Predictions for 2022 F1 Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying
Disappointment of the session (Team)
Haas should be disappointed with the plethora of issues faced by the team throughout the day. Even in the past, the team has made it a habit to start well and then stumble throughout the season by making small errors.
Kevin Magnussen had next to no running on a track where he hasn't raced before, while Mick Schumacher's progress was somewhat muted during the day as well. It might not be a surprise if Haas messes up this weekend and does not take its place at the top of the midfield.
Disappointment of the session (Driver)
Guanyu Zhou appeared to be completely at sea with the track during the two sessions. The Chinese driver had a huge gulf in terms of performance and did not look comfortable.
Alfa Romeo had a great car in Bahrain and Bottas stuck it in the third row that weekend. While the car certainly looks good, we're picking the Chinese rookie to mess this one up.
Surprise of the session (Driver)
Watch out for the young Japanese driver on the grid! Yuki Tsunoda seems to have found his groove in F1. The Japanese driver had arguably a better race than Pierre Gasly last week in Bahrain as he charged through the field to score points. This weekend, he seems to be more on pace and just slightly better than his French teammate.
He was also there or thereabouts in FP1 and then in FP2. For the Saudi Arabian GP qualifying, we're picking Yuki Tsunoda to outqualify his teammate.
Surprise of the session (Team)
While it might be too early to make huge proclamations, it does appear that McLaren might just have found what it needed on the first day of the Saudi Arabian GP. The car looked great on track and even on the timesheets, Norris was just a tenth off the Mercedes in FP2.
Before the brake overheating issues thwarted the progress of the Woking-based squad, the team was very positive about the car it had. As it turns out, the issue might have been layout specific only. We're picking McLaren to surprise during the Saudi Arabian GP qualifying and return to its 2021 form.
Top 3 in qualifying
It's going to be a battle between the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers yet again in the Saudi Arabian GP qualifying. Due to Checo's apparent lack of one-lap pace, we're picking Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Carlos Sainz as the top 3 drivers for the qualifying race.
In terms of picking the pole position, we feel it's going to be very close between the three drivers but with Red Bull looking well-placed. Max Verstappen is looking forward to righting the wrongs of last season where he crashed in the last corner during qualifying and we're picking the Dutch driver for pole position this time around.
