Pérez third for Oracle Red Bull Racing as Tsunoda to start ninth on race grid for Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.
Max Verstappen grabbed his second 2024 pole position in a row at Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying on Friday in Jeddah as Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Pérez finished in third place.
Dutchman Verstappen topped the timesheets in all three sessions to boost his FIA Formula One World Championship title defence following his opening Bahrain Grand Prix victory last weekend.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team driver Yuki Tsunoda qualified for Q3 and ended in ninth place, while Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo will start 14th on the grid for Saturday’s race.
QUOTES – Oracle Red Bull Racing
MAX VERSTAPPEN – 1st
“I enjoyed the day a lot. The car was really nice to drive and it was a good improvement from yesterday. We improved the car a little bit overnight and came out with a great set up which allowed me to attack the high speed corners and improve the one lap performance. Around this track, it really depends on your confidence level and how much you can go to your limit and today I felt very comfortable with the car. The whole of qualifying has been going very well, especially Q2 and my first lap in Q3. I am proud of today and am looking forward to the race tomorrow. As a Team we are happy with our car and the race pace and we really found our stride today. It has been a great job from the whole Team.”
SERGIO PEREZ – 3rd
“It would have been nice to have locked out the front row but I think we are in a good position to fight tomorrow. I felt like we took a back from practice, we had a positive Thursday but qualifying was not the same case unfortunately. The whole day hasn’t been as good as yesterday, I didn’t get the best out of the tyre preparation, in combination with the balance. So, we have to understand and review why that was but what we did to the car should hopefully mean we are stronger in the race. It’s important to get past Charles as soon as possible and be in the mix, especially with the DRS zones I think it is going to be important to make progress early. I believe we have stronger race pace than Ferrari but degradation can kick in and change things very quickly. It is always a challenge here but you can overtake and race and there is a long way ahead of us.”
Oracle Red Bull Racing
