FIA F1 2023, race#2 - Qualifying, quotes all teams - Aston Martin TOP, Front row - Checo Polo position - Ferrari 2nd. - NAANII GLOBAL Luxury/Quality Family Lifestyle MAGAZINE 'en Vogue' - NAANII GLOBAL Quality & Luxury Family Lifestyle - MAGAZINE 'en Vogue'-

Aston Martin  - Driver  Fernando Alonso / Lance Stroll, TOP season 2023.
Closed a new Sponsorship deal with SAUDI air, at Saudi Arabian GP, Jeddah

Aston Martin Front Row Saudi Arabian GP 2023 ¡!
Fernando Alonso, 3rd, 1:28.730
“All in all we have to be very happy with starting on the first row of the grid tomorrow. It is a very different circuit compared to Bahrain and to see us fighting in Q3 again is a positive sign. The track did evolve during the session, but maybe not as much as we anticipated, especially from Q2 to Q3. Our strength in this package has been on the long runs, so hopefully we can optimise this as much as possible tomorrow. It is very tight between a number of teams so tomorrow will be an interesting battle for sure. But with both cars starting inside the top five positions, our main goal is to come away from this race with as many points as possible.”

Lance Stroll, 6th, 1:28.945
“The team delivered a really strong qualifying performance today and we have put ourselves in a great position to fight for a good haul of points in the race tomorrow. We were not sure whether the pace we saw in Bahrain would translate to such a different circuit here in Jeddah, but the car felt good and we were able to keep pushing the limits throughout qualifying. My final lap was going well, and I went purple in the first sector, but I made a small mistake at Turn 22 and lost two or three tenths. Still, starting fifth is a good result; we have a competitive race car, and there is all to play for tomorrow.”

Mike Krack, Team Principal
“A strong performance by the entire team this week gives us a great opportunity and confidence for tomorrow. We will start from the front row with Fernando and fifth with Lance, and we will continue pushing hard to convert today’s speed into results tomorrow. The lead up to qualifying was pretty smooth: we did our homework on Friday and in final practice, and both drivers were happy with the car balance heading into qualifying. We expect a very close race tomorrow with the teams around us. It is usually an intense race here; it can be unpredictable, and you always have to be reactive and avoid mistakes. But we are ready to fight and we know we have a good race car.”

Alonso had pushed Red Bull the closest all weekend, so it was no surprise to see him up there throughout qualifying. As Verstappen unexpectedly fell by the wayside, it even looked like the Spaniard might grab pole, but in the end Perez and Leclerc had a little too much pace. But starting second with a car that is better in race trim still leaves him likely to be in the reckoning for the win. Stroll, still battling with his injuries, isn’t too far back either.


Oracle Red Bull Racing
Pole position Checo Perez Saudi Arabian GP 2023 !

Sergio Perez, 1st, 1:28.265
"I certainly enjoy the track here in Jeddah. The car came alive at high speeds and I was able to push right to the limit to secure pole position. That said, it has been tricky today. You can lose two tenths through the early section of corners if you’re not careful, especially with the low downforce that we’re running, so I’m very happy to come away with pole. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the race tomorrow, especially with some of the other cars running high downforce. As we saw last year, anything can happen. We have a good race car and showed strong race pace on Friday, so let’s hope Max can also push up the grid and together, we can aim for maximum points for the Team.”

Max Verstappen, 15th, No time set in Q2
¨The driveshaft broke out of Turn 10 on the right rear so that was it for qualifying. It happened really out of the blue, we hadn’t had any issues before that. It was annoying because the car was good up until then, I was comfortable in every session and every time I was on the track, I was quick, so for sure we could have fought for pole. Instead, we now have a bit more work ahead of us tomorrow but it is what it is, it is a long Championship and we will stay positive. I think a win is tricky from that position but I will try to score as many points as possible. It will be hard to get to the front, but we won’t give up. Anything is possible at this track, we have seen some crazy things here, but we have to be realistic. It will be tough but we have good pace so, for sure, we will move forward.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal
“A tale of two qualifying sessions out there today. Firstly, a brilliant performance from Checo. He drove incredibly well and put down a fantastic lap which sees him on pole; his second pole here in Jeddah, back to back. On the other hand, its hugely frustrating for Max, a drive shaft failure knocked him out of qualifying when we were really just getting started in Q2. His lap in Q1 would have put him in P4 for the race tomorrow. It is a real shame, but we are already in the process of understanding the issue. Max has a mountain to climb from 15th, but knowing Max, he will rise to the challenge and it will certainly be interesting to see what he achieves. For Checo, its about sticking with the strategy, staying out of trouble and surviving those early lap. Plenty of action to come and plenty to look forward to.”

After being streets ahead of the opposition in FP3 and making it a clean sweep of practice sessions, pole looked to be Verstappen’s for the taking, especially when he wound up nearly half a second clear of the field in Q1. But disaster struck at the start of Q2 when he suffered an issue with his transmission, ending his involvement much earlier than expected. That left Perez to fly the flag for the team, which he did with ease, grabbing his second ever pole. Both have come here in Jeddah, but he'll be hoping for more luck than he had in this race last year.


Scuderia Ferrari
Charles Leclerc, 2nd, 1:28.420
"I'm happy with my lap, it was on the limit and we finished further up the order than we expected to in this session. However, our competitors are strong and we still have a lot of work to do. Our race pace looks solid this weekend. It's not easy to overtake on this track, so I will do my best to fight my way back to the front tomorrow."

Carlos Sainz, 5th, 1:28.931
"Not the best of qualifyings from my side to be honest. I struggled with the tyres into the first few corners and lost the time there. The rest of the lap felt good, but it wasn’t enough to make up for sector 1. My bad. However, the weekend is not over and we have the pace to fight for a step on the podium, so we’ll reset tonight and come back at it tomorrow in the race."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
"It was a decent quali for the team today with Charles P2, one tenth off Perez – which will become P12 with the penalty - and Carlos fifth fastest. Our pace was not too bad but we need a step forward. It’s a pity for Carlos because he had to put on a second set of Softs in Q2 and at the end, in Q3 he only had one set and made a small mistake, which probably cost him the front row. However, Carlos had good pace and he’ll start P4, which gives him a good opportunity. Looking at tomorrow, our race pace was good yesterday and on the long stints we had low degradation, also thanks to the fact this track is very grippy, very different to Bahrain. It could be a strange race because it’s quite easy on paper to overtake but actually, we could see a DRS train which could be a game changer. We need to find good track position and the right slot for the pit stops."

Ferrari struggled for pace in final practice, and looked a little lost heading into qualifying. It wasn’t a smooth session for the team either, with Sainz encountering traffic and Leclerc struggling with tyre warm up. But both drivers scraped into Q3 and from there, the Monegasque showed why he is regarded as one of the best qualifiers in the field by grabbing a brilliant second. He won’t start there though thanks to a 10-place grid penalty, which will bump his team mate up the order.


Mercedes AMG Petronas

Lewis Hamilton, 8th, 1:29.223
"I struggled a little bit today, but we just need to keep trying. No matter what changes we've been making, we've been struggling to extract the speed, and I just don't feel properly connected to the car at the moment. That is something we will work on to improve the confidence in the next races. George did a great job today though and he wasn't that far off some of the cars at the front, so we just need to keep pushing. It wasn't the greatest of days but there are improvements for the Team. Tomorrow is a new day, and we will keep working at it."

George Russell, 4th, 1:28.857
"We have exceeded the potential and our own expectations to be ahead of an Aston Martin and a Ferrari. It is a solid job; we put in a lot of work overnight. The team back at Brackley were working hard in the simulator and we did a lot of work trackside this morning to try and get more out of the package. We know we are not in the fight for pole just yet, but you have to maximise what you've got, and we certainly did that today. We have a fight on our hands tomorrow, most likely with the Aston Martins and the Ferraris. We will be pushing hard to get on the podium and seeing what we can do. This Team has higher standards and expectations for themselves than just finishing in the top three, but we will be giving everything we've got to be standing there on Sunday."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"I think today is about where we expected to be. We know the deficits that we have and two tenths faster or slower can move us up or down a few positions; we know we need to make bigger steps forward than this, though, in the races to come. I think pace-wise tomorrow we are with the Aston Martins and the Ferraris; at least that is per the long runs yesterday, so we should be able to play around in the race. Lewis's lap looked a bit sticky in sector one, so we need to look into that. The time never came together for him, but he was as fast or faster than George in the rest of the lap, and we need to evaluate what effect the differences in set-up had."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"It's been a difficult weekend to get the car in the right place and I don't think George could have got any more out of it with his laps in the final session. We've benefited from Max's issues and Charles' penalty to end up third on the grid, but George still had to get ahead of a number of key cars that were all pretty quick. Lewis had a tough time through the sessions, struggling with the balance and grip in the first sector. He had a very solid morning so it's a bit of a surprise but hopefully we'll see strong pace tomorrow. The race here normally has a few incidents so how well you do is often a function of whether they fall at the right times. Only a few places separate our cars so it gives us an opportunity to split them on strategies so we can cover the bases. Hopefully we'll be a bit kinder on the tyres than we were in Bahrain; we've tried to work on the setup to achieve that and we'll find out tomorrow if we've made progress."

Russell had looked to have the edge over his team mate all weekend, and managed to out-qualify Hamilton will relative ease. Fourth becomes third for Russell thanks to Leclerc’s grid penalty which isn’t a shabby starting berth. Their car has looked more stable here so they could well be in the fight tomorrow, if they can get on top of their tyre degradation that Hamilton was complaining about in practice.