Sergio Perez took a surprising first pole position of his career in Jeddah as he outperformed both the Ferrari’s on Saturday.
Sergio Perez secured the first pole of his career in qualifying in Jeddah after waiting for 215 races in his career. After succeeding on a very demanding circuit, the Mexican was overjoyed by his achievement.
He described the Jeddah Corniche fast street circuit ‘like no other.’ Perez explained that the level of precision and risk-taking it needs to do a perfect lap on this is circuit is tremendous.
He ambitiously added, “If I can get pole here, I can get pole anywhere in the world. This is definitely the most demanding place to get the perfect lap.”
From Friday practice to the qualifying session, the Saudi Arabian GP made many headlines. First, it was the missile attack that blew up the Aramco oil facility in Jeddah a few miles away from the circuit during the free practice session on Friday.
Following this, there were many calls to cancel the race in Saudi Arabia, but the F1 authorities ensured safety decided to continue racing anyway.
Second, it was an unexpected elimination of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in Q1. Mercedes has been struggling with its pace so far but no one saw Hamilton get eliminated in Q1. The Briton did not make it to Q2 for the first time since 2017 in Brazil.
On top of that, there was Haas’ Mick Schumacher’s horrific crash in Q2. The crash saw the Haas car tear in two parts and Schumacher was airlifted to the hospital. However, he has been reported to be physically absolutely fine.
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Sergio Perez reveals the key to his sudden success
Perez was running third in Q3 behind both the Ferraris. But in the final deciding moments, he came storming through the track to snatch the pole from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Perez managed to pull off a few tenths of gain in his pace and outperformed both the Ferraris. He has locked in the front row with Leclerc. The second row is locked by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Perez’s teammate Max Verstappen.
At the 2️⃣1️⃣5️⃣th attempt 💪 @SChecoPerez will start the #SaudiArabianGP from Pole Position ☝️ pic.twitter.com/Z9I0mX7AgK
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 26, 2022
When asked how did he manage to bring a pair of tenths of pace in his car, Perez said, “I think risk together with precision. You know, just nailing it on all the entries. But the level of risk was extremely high.”
