“You know when you nail it”: Sergio Perez after beating Charles Leclerc and ‘lion’ Fernando Alonso

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez was ecstatic after claiming his second pole position in the sport at the Jeddah International Circuit in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

The Mexican trailed his teammate Max Verstappen throughout the weekend and had a rough start to his qualifying session. However, a drive shaft issue for the reigning world champion during Q2 gave Perez the perfect opportunity to clinch his second consecutive pole in Jeddah, ahead of the likes of Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso.

Speaking to F1.com, Sergio Perez said:

“In Jeddah, I enjoy it a lot. When you have a good car that you can push around this place, you really feel the car coming alive. Getting a clean, good lap, it feels… you know when you nail it. That Q3 run one was quite a good jump. I had a good jump from all my previous laps [in qualifying], and that meant I was able to get the pole.”

Perez also did not rule out his teammate's chances on Sunday, saying he would approach the race "thinking about Max."

“I think we certainly have a good race car. I think it’s probably where we’re a little bit better than the competition. So many things can happen in a race, but I do expect [Max] to come back. Our race pace was very strong on Friday, so we’ll see. I’m not going to approach the race tomorrow thinking about Max. First of all, I have to make sure I’m able to keep the lead on the initial laps. If I’m able to do that, to keep this lion [Alonso] behind, it will be good,”

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"It was tricky that Q3, especially [after] not getting that second lap" - Sergio Perez

While analyzing his qualifying session, Sergio Perez mentioned that Q3 got a bit "tricky" for him as he could have had a better second lap. However, the Mexican was happy with his first lap, saying that "nailing that lap" was "very important."

He said:

"It was tricky. It was tricky that Q3, especially [after] not getting that second lap. That [first lap] was quite good, you know, it was quite clean, really clean. Nailing that lap, you know, you really feel the Formula 1 car coming alive in this place and yeah just maximizing that lap was very important, you know, because with the issue we had into the final run, it was really important as the track was improving."

It would be fascinating to see if Sergio Perez could hold on to his lead after the first lap and put in a performance that might take him to the championship lead in 2023.