Despite McLaren having clearly had the fastest car during the first four (and a half) rounds of the 2025 F1 season, a Red Bull strategic gamble in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying has helped provide Max Verstappen with the chance to seize the world championship lead.
McLaren’s dominant form during practice in Jeddah had left most predicting a front-row lockout by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the reigning constructors’ champions, but the Saturday night session ultimately delivered extreme drama.
World championship leader Norris crashed on his first flying lap in Q3 to leave himself 10th on the grid, and with little hope of retaining his lead over Piastri and Verstappen at the top of the standings.
The incident also left little more than eight minutes on the clock in Q3, which was just about enough time for the remaining drivers to attempt two flying laps if they wanted to.
The option only really made sense for Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell, who were the only drivers still in possession of two sets of fresh soft tyres at this stage of qualifying.
Piastri had completed his first flying lap just before Norris crashed, both sealing a banker time and using up the first of his two remaining new sets of soft tyres.
Red Bull seized the moment, with Verstappen’s engineer Gianpiero Lambiase sending the Dutchman out for a first run in which he took provisional pole, putting the pressure back on his rivals.
Russell, then Piastri would momentarily take top spot, before Verstappen – after a smoothly executed pit stop to put on his fresh tyres – grabbed pole from the Australian by just a hundredth of a second.
That Verstappen was able to take provisional pole with his first run was made even more impressive by the fact he did it with enough fuel on board for both efforts.
Verstappen praises strategy call as Horner reveals tight margin
Verstappen said: “With the crash, the only thing it meant was that you had to change your approach. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do.
“At the end of the day, GP (Lambiase) said let’s fuel it for two laps. So you do the first lap on the used out-lap tyre, then pit and go onto the new. You carry more fuel, so you’re a bit slower on the first time.
“But it was the right call. It was definitely the right thing to do for me in terms of feeling with the car and building up to the limit.”
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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was delighted after securing pole for Sunday’s race in Saudi Arabia
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner explained how the strategy left the Milton Keynes squad with just 25 seconds of margin for Verstappen to complete his two runs, but also insisted that the highest praise was due to his driver for nailing another qualifying lap.
Horner said: “It left it right on the cusp of doing two times, for which there was 25 seconds of margin, or do you just hang in there and do one?
“We elected to do the two times, which puts you under pressure because if there’s any issue at all, you’ve lost that margin.
“What was super impressive for me was that, because you take the pit stop, you’ve got to carry the fuel.
“So, he had six or seven kilograms more fuel on that first lap, which he went quickest, put the pressure then on the other guys. And then again, his last lap was outstanding.”
Did Mercedes miss a trick?
Russell was in an almost identical situation to Verstappen following Norris’ crash, but Mercedes opted to wait for just one run in the closing moments.
The Brit said the option of doing two runs was discussed, and that the decision not to go for it ultimately left him needing to be more conservative with his one attempt.
“It was discussed more to actually start on the new and put the used on after,” Russell said.
“I’m sure it was discussed on the pit wall. I’m not privy to every single conversation because I’m just driving the car at that point, and I put my trust in the team. But it’s something we’ll discuss afterwards.
“As a driver, just knowing you’ve only got that one lap… especially on a track like this, you’ve got to be full commitment.
“Turn 1… you’re pushing the tyres to be as cold as possible, and I didn’t have the confidence to push them any cooler. I lost a bit of lap time with my tyres being a bit too hot, because I was just being a little bit too conservative with them.”
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Verstappen did just enough to beat McLaren driver Oscar Piastri to pole around Jeddah Corniche Circuit
As for Piastri, he revealed that McLaren also considered attempting to squeeze in an extra run but came to the logical conclusion that the risk outweighed reward.
Piastri said: “We spoke about it, yes, but decided against it. Considering I had a lap on the board, I didn’t need to put another one on.
“It was going to be extremely tight. As Max said
