Following on from Japan, Max Verstappen snatched pole away from what looked like being another dominant qualifying performance from McLaren in Saudi Arabia. F1Technical's senior writer delivers teams' and drivers' reactions from Jeddah.

Red Bull

“It is really nice but definitely unexpected to get pole today. The Team made some final adjustments going into Qualifying which allowed me to be a bit more comfortable in the car and attack the corners. Our progression in Qualifying was really nice: we tried to improve run by run and it felt good in the car and we made things a lot more comfortable.

"The tyres were overheating less which was positive, we found the right balance and when everything cooled down a bit, the car came alive at night. I’m really proud of the Team, after the red flag they stayed calm and chose the right strategy. I wasn’t entirely sure what the right call was and then GP came on the radio and the Team were definitely right. It is always a Team effort, all the engineers helped with this and helped improve on particular corners.

"I knew what I had to do to beat the lap record but it’s always extremely rewarding to put a good lap together here. Looking to tomorrow, it will be a bit more tricky as here you can pass if you have more pace. There are a few more DRS zones, so it will be difficult to keep everyone behind but we will give it everything that we have."

“It was an okay Saturday to finish P8. Congrats to Max on pole, he did a great lap. My last push lap in Q3 was quite messy and I was expecting slightly more today. We are still learning and it feels like there’s always something that happens when I push more, unpredictable things happen, and it’s been quite difficult to put everything together for a clean lap.

"It’s pretty frustrating when I can’t put it all together in Q3 when it counts, but it is at least positive to be in Q3 again this weekend. Some of the difficulties are due to experience, it is only my third race with the Team but my confidence is building up in the car, I have to keep pushing and we want more.

"Hopefully we can be more consistent in the race tomorrow, our setup is more focused on the long run rather than the short run and I had more confidence in those laps. I will do my best to overtake and to finish with good points."

McLaren

"A disappointing end to Qualifying but I know what I have to do tomorrow. We have a good car, it’s quick and I'll work with the engineers overnight to put a plan in place to work my way up the field. Thank you to the entire team for their hard work this evening, I'm ready to go again tomorrow to score some strong points.”

“First of all, it’s great to see Lando is okay. Overall, I am happy with the job we did today. Being so close to Pole is frustrating but we didn’t have much more in it and Max did a great job. I think we can fight from where we are as our pace is good, so we’re in a strong position to challenge for the win. I think it’s going to be a tough but fun race.”

Mercedes

"P3 is a great result for us this evening. If you had offered us third before the session, I think we would have taken it. Seeing how tight the field was at the end of Q3 though, you do begin to think about where we might have found that extra tenth to claim pole. Nevertheless, we should be pleased. It was a tough session with the red flag taking away our first lap. The only thing that mattered then was that final effort and I think we did a good job to deliver a solid starting position for tomorrow.

"It is going to be a long race so we should be able to put our race pace to use. We looked competitive on Friday, even if Piastri in the McLaren looks to have an edge on the rest of the field and will be difficult to race. P3 gives us a chance to fight for the podium again and hopefully we can get on there for our fourth top three finish in the first five races of 2025."

"That was a very intense Qualifying! The session as a whole went well, and I continued to build my speed. I had a big snap on my first lap in Q1 and had to burn a second set of new tyres to get through to Q2. That wasn’t ideal but we still made it through to Q3 and, with the red flag, it all came down to the final effort anyway. I need to rewatch my lap to see exactly what happened, but I had a moment in the first sector that cost me a few tenths. That was a shame as the rest of the lap was strong and I think we could have taken P4.

"I’m feeling more and more confident each and every weekend. This track is such a big test as you need lots of confidence and to get really close to the walls through the high-speed corners. Step-by-step, and the more experience I’m getting, I feel like I’m starting to put it all together with more consistency. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though and see what we can do tomorrow. It will be a long race and hopefully we can bring home some solid points for the team."

Ferrari

"Considering how tough practice was, that was a decent recovery in quali. Obviously not where we want to be, but the car felt better out there, so we’re moving in the right direction. My lap in Q3 wasn’t great, but you can overtake here, so the goal’s to fight through and make up ground tomorrow."

Charles Leclerc, 4th, 1:27.670
"I’m not pleased with P4. I am satisfied with my driving and I have understood how to maximise the car’s potential, but unfortunately, this is the most we can extract from it at the moment.

"We just don’t have enough grip to carry the kind of speed our competitors are carrying through certain corners, and we have to analyse that. I don’t expect any miracles tomorrow, but if we have a good start, a podium could be on the cards. I will give it everything to make that happen."

Williams

"Today was frustrating because we should have been in the top ten quite comfortably, but we missed it. We went out in Q2 when nobody else did and this track is a bit like Monza in that you need the air circulation and in Q2 we didn’t have a tow; I needed two or three cars starting their outlaps or something to get the air moving.

"I was really happy with my lap and we were strong on the straights. We have the car to score points and there are opportunities tomorrow so let’s see how it plays out in the race."

"I enjoyed pushing the limits of the car today, especially on such a demanding track where confidence makes a big difference. I'm proud of the progress we're making and felt more at home in the car from the start of FP1.

"The target for tomorrow is to bring home as many points as possible. This will require patience, discipline, and I will need to pick my battles to maximise the race result. Let’s go for it!"

Alpine

“On the whole, it is positive that we made it back-to-back Q3 appearances after last weekend in Bahrain. Today there were certainly a few things we could have done better, which we will learn from for next time as I am sure we could have been higher than ninth place. The whole team has done a great job and the package is good at the moment.

"We have put ourselves in a position to fight for points tomorrow, which, of course, is the target. We will need a clean race in a tight field. We know where and who our race is against with Carlos [Sainz] a few places ahead. That’s our aim and I’m looking forward to it tomorrow night.”

“It’s not the end result we wanted in Qualifying, but, overall, I’m pleased with the steps we made today after a challenging Practice yesterday. We made good steps forward between Free Practice 3 to Qualifying. We were able to work through some things and find some improvements overnight and I immediately felt the positive impact in the first few laps of today where I was much more comfortable in the car compared to yesterday.

"The end result in Qualifying is not one we are happy with especially being so close to reaching Q2. We remain optimistic and we know overtaking opportunities are better here than other circuits and we will aim to take advantage of a few things like strategy with the ambition of progressing forwards to the points.”

Racing Bulls

"The very first lap of Qualifying I thought we had a nice car and it felt since then we didn’t make any progress. We were simply not fast enough for Q3. You can’t really make mistakes here, it's concrete walls, not barriers or tyres. I have struggled the whole weekend so far, but Liam did a very good job and was able to maximise the car today, it was the best the car could do.

"I don’t think it’s harder than any other track, it’s just hard to extract the most from it. I think I had two tenths in my lap and that would have been a perfect lap. I expected more on the last lap of Q2, so it’s a bit disappointing. I didn’t have a nice feeling around the lap or consistent balance, you constantly have to adapt corner by corner, which is quite tough. I think it’s going to be a one stop race, so opportunities are limited but I am looking forward to tomorrow and we will try out best."

“The work the team have done on the car has been very, very good. I think we did everything we could and put ourselves in the greatest possible position for Qualifying. It's obviously good to extract everything out the car and I did the best lap I've done all weekend, but unfortunately we were just shy of where we needed to be pace wise.

"It's tough when the midfield is super close. Every race I'm becoming more confident with the car. We've come from a track in Bahrain which is super technical and then you come here and you've just got to commit as hard as you can. It's exciting to drive, it raises the heart rate, but obviously it bites hard as well which we've seen today. I'll try and create as many opportunities as possible tomorrow."

Aston Martin

"Jeddah is one of my favourite circuits and I think I achieved the maximum from the car with P13 in Qualifying. We managed to progress into Q2, but we used up all of our new Softs to get there, so it was always going to be difficult to progress any further than that. We have struggled again for performance this weekend and it could be a challenging race for us, but anything can happen on a street circuit like this."

"Qualifying was our most competitive session this weekend so far. We made some small progress, but we just didn’t have enough pace to get through to Q2, although the cut-off time was very tight.

"We did some set-up changes following the practice sessions yesterday and progressed a little bit, but the car is not easy to drive in the tricky conditions here and we still have plenty of areas to work on and improve. Tomorrow will be all about taking opportunities; we will see how it goes."

Haas

“I lost a little bit of time in the first sector, but even if I remove that, we would’ve been out. We’ve struggled the whole way through this weekend, unfortunately. I think it’s been a tough one and although we’ve improved a few things, we need to keep working to optimise what there is. I’m sure we’ll get on top of the issues we’re facing and get more consistency in terms of performance for the future.”

“I honestly don’t think we had Q3 in us today. I was happy to get through Q1, it was a good lap I thought. It was a bit more difficult in Q2; I felt really good on the used tyre but then jumping onto the new set, it’s really difficult to get them into the correct window and unfortunately that was the case today – I didn’t improve on my new tyres.

It’s difficult to say about long runs, it was a messy day yesterday with red flag interruptions, but degradation is a little higher than last year. We’ve been decent on race trim this season though, so hopefully I have the pace delta I had last year and have a good race.”

Kick Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg, 18th, 1:28.782
“That wasn’t the qualifying we had hoped for. I locked up the front wheel and ran wide at Turn 1 during my final run in Q1. I truly believe we had the potential to make it into Q2. The margins are so fine that everything has to come together perfectly every time.

"We’ll need to analyse exactly what happened, as the lock-up felt a bit unusual. I even braked slightly earlier because I sensed the front tyres weren’t as ready as they had been on the previous run. Even then, I didn’t get the bite or deceleration from the brakes that I expected.

"The starting position is, obviously, not ideal, but we’ll take on the challenge and do our best to make the most of it tomorrow. We’ll need a bit of action ahead of us and a smart strategy to move forward.”

“First of all, I want to thank the team for their hard work in changing the chassis and getting the car ready in time for today. Unfortunately, it was a frustrating qualifying session for me. After a decent first push lap, I wasn’t able to put together a clean run.

"On my second attempt, I picked up a plastic bag, which forced me to pit so it could be removed. Then on the third attempt, I got a bit too optimistic with the tow from Max [Verstappen], missed the braking point, and ended up spinning. We’re always pushing to the limit, doing everything we can to reach Q2, but I made a mistake, and it didn’t work out today.

"Missing FP2 and the long runs yesterday definitely didn’t help and tomorrow will likely be a challenging race – but we’ll give it everything and try to learn as much as we can about the car’s behaviour.”