Sergio Perez took his first career pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Formula One continued amid heavy scrutiny on Saturday, the day after an attack on a nearby oil depot.
Perez edged the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. on his final lap, pushing his own Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen — the world champion — down to fourth.
All day, the focus was on why F1 went ahead with racing so close to the bombed, smoke-covered depot located about 11 kilometeres from the track.
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Sainz Jr. agreed with the decision to race, but said the matter won’t go away once F1 globe-trots away to Australia and then Europe.
“There will need to be discussions after this race,” the Spanish driver said. “Because what has happened in the last 24 hours is definitely a point of discussion.”
Lewis Hamilton is usually so outspoken on human rights and other important issues. But this time he said little about the collective decision to race — which followed hours of discussions on Friday night — other than he’s eager to get home.
“I’m not here to comment on that. Together as a group we all discussed and made a decision as a sport,” Hamilton said. “I don’t feel a particular way about it, I’m looking forward to getting out.”
The seven-time world champion Hamilton is F1′s record holder with 103 pole positions and 103 wins yet produced one of his worst ever qualifying performances in 16th.
There was a heavy crash during the second part of qualifying as Mick Schumacher mangled his Haas car spinning and sliding backward into a wall on the sinewy Jiddah circuit, bringing out a red flag.
Schumacher was flown by helicopter for checkups. Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said he could be kept overnight as a precaution and will not race.
“The best thing is that Mick has apparently no injuries. He’s in the hospital right now and being evaluated by the doctors, so he is in good hands,” Steiner said. “Based on these facts and where we are, we have decided not to field his car tomorrow.”
Most of the talk on Saturday wasn’t about racing, though.
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