In a close-fought final Q3 shootout at the Jeddah Corniche street circuit, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz led the way after the first round of attempts before being demoted by teammate Charles Leclerc, setting up a Ferrari front row for Sunday’s race.
But Perez surprised the Ferrari duo by dipping 0.025s below Leclerc’s time with his final effort.
With Perez’ teammate Max Verstappen settling for fourth, the 31-year-old Mexican sealed his first F1 pole in 215 attempts.
Perez says his pole lap was “unbelievable” and doesn’t think he could have gone any quicker on the high-speed street track.
“It took me a couple of races but what a lap, man, it was unbelievable,” Perez grinned. “I can do 1000 laps and I don’t think I can beat that lap. It was unbelievable.”
Perez said he didn’t expect to be able to beat the Ferraris in qualifying, making his first pole even more memorable.
“We were not really expecting too much with the Ferraris in qualifying,” he added. “We were focusing mainly on the…
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