Verstappen secures pole position in Saudi Arabia-big races are expected!

Verstappen secures pole position in Saudi Arabia-big races are expected!

Jeddah, Saudi-Arabien - On April 19, 2025, Max Verstappen won the pole position during Formula 1 qualifying on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. This is the 42nd Pole in the career of the four -time world champion. Verstappen prevailed in an exciting qualification by a hundredth of a second ahead of McLaren-Pilot Oscar Piatri. George Russell in Mercedes took third place and also showed a strong performance.

A remarkable turn took the qualifying by an accident from Lando Norris, the current World Cup leader. The McLaren driver caused a 15-minute interruption after it hit the wall. Norris reported that he was doing well, but his McLaren wheel suspension at the front left was damaged. Due to this disorder, he was not able to drive a spread in the decisive section of the qualifying and now starts from tenth.

competition for the World Cup

In the current World Cup ranking, Norris leads to Piatri with a three-point lead over Piatri and eight points on Verstappen. The pole position in Saudi Arabia is a great advantage, as there are only a few overtaking options on the route. Verstappen commented on his poles and noticed that the car was going better after some adjustments. He has already won the races in Jeddah in 2022 and 2024 and would like to continue his success this season.

Piatri, who is around a point behind Norris in the World Cup ranking, felt that he got everything out of the car in his last round. George Russell also emphasized that in qualifying you always have the feeling that a little more is possible. The competition among the top teams remains exciting and leaves space for surprises.

context on the team situation

In the previous races of the season, Piatri has already won the Bahrain Grand Prix and converted his pole position there in his second win of the season. He reduced the distance to Norris to three points in the driver's ranking. While Norris described his race in Sakhir as "chaotic", he is aiming for an improvement in the upcoming race in Jeddah. McLaren is currently perceived as a strong team in the competition, while Mercedes takes second place in the team classification with a 58-point deficit in McLaren.

The competition for the top positions is also evident in team performance, since George Russell was once again on the podium in Bahrain, which was praised by team boss Toto Wolff. Verstappen finished the last race in Bahrain in sixth place and is under pressure because Red Bull works on an improvement. In the midfield group, the competition also remained intensely, with surprise results, such as the double point finish of Haas in Bahrain, which further increases the anticipation for the next race in Jeddah.

For more information about the current racing act, you can read the reporting of vienna.at and Formula1.com .