Lewis Hamilton clinched pole position at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team locked out the front row. At the penultimate race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the two title contenders hotly contested for pole position.
Valtteri Bottas was in second position as he joined his team-mate Hamilton on the first row. Max Verstappen was on course to snatch pole position on his final flying lap but crashed in the final corner to finish in third position.
The qualifying session started under the lights with air temperatures at 28 degrees C and track temperatures at 30 degrees C at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4), the middle range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.
Q1: Vettel and Stroll knocked out
The two Williams F1 Team drivers,George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, were the first drivers on the track. The drivers went out on the soft compound tyres for their initial runs.
Verstappen went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m28.659s. Hamilton after abandoning his first flying lap went 0.193 seconds faster than Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz with a storming lap went faster than Hamilton to take the top spot. As the track evolved and the lap times got faster, all the drivers went out for another lap.
The session ended with Sergio Pérez at the top of the time charts ahead of Bottas and Ricciardo.
But Bottas was in a spot of bother as his engine misfired and shutdown in the pit lane.
Q1 dropzone: Nicholas Latifi, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin
Q2: Sainz and Alonso Eliminated
Most of the drivers went out on the medium compound tyres as this is the preferred tyre to start the race.
Verstappen went fastest with a lap time of 1m27.953s ahead of Pérez and Bottas.
Sainz had a spin and damaged his front-wing and had to pit to repair the damage and rejoined the session to get out of the dropzone. The Spaniard almost crashed again and had to abort his lap.
Hamilton topped the session ahead of Pérez and Verstappen.
Q2 dropzone: Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso, George Russell, Carlos Sainz
Q3: Hamilton takes pole position as Verstappen crashes
The last all-important twelve minutes of the top ten shootout started with pole position being contested by the usual suspects – Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen.
The Mercedes drivers along with Leclerc were the first drivers on the track. Hamilton had to abort his first flying lap as he went wide at Turn 10 and it was advantage Verstappen.
Verstappen went fastest with a lap time of 1m27.653s. Hamilton then took provisional pole position with a lap time of 1m27.511s. Bpttas slotted into second position.
Verstappen then started his final flying lap and went purple with a very fast first sector. The Dutchman was on course to snatch pole position but he crashed at the final corner.
Leclerc with a great lap took fourth position. It was an unfortunate end to a gripping qualification session at this superfast track.
Hamilton pulled out a back to the wall pole position to lead a Mercedes 1-2 in this qualification.
Top 10: Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Sergio Pérez, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Antonio Giovinazzi
2021 Saudi Arabian GP Qualification Results:
| Pos | No | Driver | Nat. | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1:28.466 | 1:27.712 | 1:27.511 | 23 |
| 2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1:28.057 | 1:28.054 | 1:27.622 | 25 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing | 1:28.285 | 1:27.953 | 1:27.653 | 19 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:28.310 | 1:28.459 | 1:28.054 | 24 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Red Bull Racing | 1:28.021 | 1:27.946 | 1:28.123 | 23 |
| 6 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:28.401 | 1:28.314 | 1:28.125 | 26 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1:28.338 | 1:28.344 | 1:28.180 | 21 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | JAP | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:28.503 | 1:28.222 | 1:28.442 | 26 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1:28.752 | 1:28.574 | 1:28.647 | 22 |
| 10 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN | 1:28.899 | 1:28.616 | 1:28.754 | 21 |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1:28.216 | 1:28.668 | 17 | |
| 12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN | 1:28.856 | 1:28.885 | 18 | |
| 13 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Alpine F1 Team | 1:28.944 | 1:28.920 | 17 | |
| 14 | 63 | George Russell | GBR | Williams Racing | 1:28.926 | 1:29.054 | 17 | |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:28.237 | 1:53.652 | 16 | |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1:29.177 | 9 | ||
| 17 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1:29.198 | 10 | ||
| 18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1:29.368 | 9 | ||
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1:29.464 | 9 | ||
| 20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | RAF | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1:30.473 | 8 |