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The 2022 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has gotten off to an unbelievable start. A thrilling qualifying session produced a new pole-sitter with Red Bull's Sergio Perez setting the fastest time on Saturday. It has taken the Mexican a total of 215 F1 qualifying sessions to achieve pole, making it the longest wait in the history of the sport. His sensational drive, however, has taken the entire paddock by storm, making it one of the many baffling moments from the session.
While Carlos Sainz of Ferrari was looking to take his maiden pole position, he was once again out-qualified by his team-mate and will consequently be starting in P3 on Sunday. With two red flags in the course of the session, qualifying went on for just over two hours and it certainly kept viewers on the edge of their seats in shocking chaos at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Here are the top 3 surprising moments from the 2022 F1 Saudi Arabian Qualifying
#3 Max Verstappen setting only fourth-fastest time in qualifying
Max Verstappen drove one of the most sensational laps of his career in qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021. The lap, however, came to a devastating end for the Dutchman, who found himself in the barriers and lost all prospects for pole. This season, he seemed to be having a decent weekend in Jeddah, with strong laps in Q1 and Q2 but everything went downhill in Q3. The 24-year-old struggled with his first set of tires in Q3 and did not manage to improve much from there with a new set for the next flying lap, leaving him two-tenths of a second down on Sergio Perez. He will start the main race on Sunday behind his teammate and both Ferraris in fourth place.
#2 Sergio Perez snatching pole position from Ferrari
The paddock was filled with loads of chatter regarding the prospects of Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Carlos Sainz setting the fast time to take pole at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Monegasque managed to set a phenomenal lap time to take the provisional pole, looking set to start at the front of the grid for a second consecutive race this season. This was to be until the Mexican driver for Red Bull snatched the front spot in the very final moments of the session. The two were split by a mere two hundredths of a second, making for an incredible battle of pure pace in this wild high-speed circuit. In doing so, Sergio Perez became the first Mexican to achieve an F1 pole position, making this a day to remember for the 32-year-old.
#1 Lewis Hamilton failing to make it out of Q1
Nicholas Latifi caused the first red flag of the qualifying session in Saudi Arabia after hitting the wall in Q1. Lewis Hamilton struggled, to say the least, from the very start of the session but came back in an even worse position when the race resumed. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll essentially eliminated the Briton, who had only made it to fifteenth with the hopes of moving on to Q2. While Mercedes have been highly vocal about their struggles this season, what truly made this the most shocking moment of the session was the fact that George Russell managed to qualify all the way up in P6 with the very same car. Hamilton later went on to reveal that he was struggling with the balance of the car. This disastrous day is certainly one to forget for the Mercedes driver who was knocked out of Q1 for the very first time since the 2017 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix.
