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Red Bull's Sergio Perez took pole in Saturday's qualifying for the 2022 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Marking the first pole position of his career, the Mexican placed ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr., who took second and third positions respectively. His teammate Max Verstappen, however, could not manage to break up the two Ferraris, only taking fourth in Q3.
Even more surprisingly, Mercedes failed to make it to the top-5 in Q3. Here are the biggest issues to watch at tomorrow's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix:
Mercedes' Trouble
It came as a shock when Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of the Q1 session. He seemed to hold on to P15 until Aston Marton's Lance Stroll bested him by less than one-tenth of a second in the final moments of the session.
Although Mercedes fans aren't happy with the result, fans of former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas are ecstatic. Bottas now drives for Alfa Romeo and managed to qualify ahead of both Mercedes'.
Hamilton will start 16th on the grid in the race after struggling throughout the entirety of Q1. His new teammate this season, George Russell, who normally performs well in qualifying, placed 6th overall.
The seven-time F1 world champion will be driving the same car in the race as he did in qualifying. In a post-qualifying interview, he admitted that he doesn't anticipate moving much forward from his starting position. This is not good news for his fans, who have seen this season off to a slow start.
Hamilton's performance may not be the only concern in the Mercedes family. Russell's car is the only Mercedes-powered vehicle on the grid to break into the top 10 in the qualifying session. Team Mercedes have made it clear that they are not expecting top results early this season, but such results may be a cause for concern if they continue.
F1 Tire Temperature
Max Verstappen was heard complaining over his team radio that his tires had no grip on Turn 1 of Q3. He had changed tires just a little over a lap earlier. It seems that the 2022 changes regarding F1 tires are already affecting tire temperatures. Drivers are requiring more time than usual to heat up their tires. This will be a cause for further concern as the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is a night race, with lights out at 8 pm local time.
Red Bull Engine Power
Red Bull's sudden engine failure at the previous F1 Grand Prix in Bahrain shows that Mercedes are not the only powerhouse on the grid with concerns. After last week's race, Red Bull claim that they have found an issue that caused both cars to retire. According to Red Bull's advisor, Dr. Helmut Marko, a vacuum in the system caused the engine to run out of fuel.
While Red Bull claim that they have resolved the issue, their sister team Alpha Tauri may not be as confident. In the first qualifying session, Yuki Tsunoda's car remained confined to the garage due to fuel concerns.
Jody Egginton, Alpha Tauri's technical director, later called it a "suspected water system issue," and said he was happy with the pace apart from this one problem.
As a result, the Japanese driver starts 19th on the grid, which is the last position, after Mick Schumacher was ruled out of the race following his crash in Q2. Will Alpha Tauri face the same issue during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix? Only time will tell.
