F1 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race time Australia, qualifying, results, draw, Oscar Piastri

Australian Oscar Piastri showed an amazing result in qualifying. Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia. take eighth place in the grid.

“Of course it was a very, very good session, I’m very happy,” Piastri said. “We could just as easily fly out of Q1 due to the dense field.

“(But I’m) very excited to be in Q3.”

“It’s nice to start with points and hopefully we’ll finish there.”

The young McLaren shooter set the ninth fastest time but moved up one spot after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc received a +10 points penalty on the grid.

Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez starts from pole position but his teammate World Champion Max Verstappen will only be in 15th place after being stopped by a car problem during Saturday’s qualifying.

Pérez, who also took pole position in last year’s race here, topped the leaderboard with a best lap of one minute 28.265 seconds.

Leclerc was second, 0.155 seconds behind Pérez, but faced a 10-place grid drop that saw Fernando Alonso start in the front row in his Aston Martin.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton only managed the eighth fastest time, but his teammate George Russell was fourth and starts third, along with Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and Alpine’s Esteban Okon will be on the third row of the grid.

Verstappen, who won the first race in Bahrain earlier in the month, dominated practice, leading in every one of his three sessions.

However, in the second quarter, he informed his team, “I have a problem,” and then added, “He’s hardly accelerating.”

The Dutchman pulled himself up and starts on the eighth row of the starting grid.

VERSTAPPEN GOES FROM ILLNESS TO HIGH PRACTICE

Max Verstappen did not have any side effects due to a stomach problem as he set the fastest time for Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso in the second free practice this weekend. Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia..

The reigning two-time world champion, having recovered from an upset stomach that delayed his arrival in Jeddah by 24 hours, set a one-minute best lap of 29.603 seconds, beating double-champion Alonso’s Aston Martin by 0.208 seconds.

Sergio Perez was third in the second Red Bull ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Mercedes’ George Russell and Pierre Gasly in the second Alpine.

Alonso’s Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll was seventh, ahead of Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and two Ferraris, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, both of which were equipped with new powertrains.

Leclerc already has a 10-place penalty on the grid in the Monday Morning Race (AEDT) for using his third ECU of the season.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was 11th for Mercedes with a best lap of 1:30.599, a second slower than Verstappen, on the day he announced he was no longer working with his longtime coach Angela Cullen.

Alonso’s performance confirmed his speed this year after finishing third in the season-opening race in Bahrain, but it was Verstappen who set the pace with ease.

After Verstappen’s early one-two lead at Red Bull in kick-off practice, the second session started in cooler conditions, with temperatures down to 25 degrees and the tracks down from 44 to 31.

Stroll was first, Sainz set the pace first, but just five minutes before the world champion came out on top again, only Alonso responded, two tenths faster.

Both medium-dressed Red Bulls stirred again. Verstappen was 1:29.952 ahead of Perez until Alonso separated them again on the soft. His Aston Martin was the only car capable of fighting them.

And then Pérez posted a time of 1:29.902, and last year’s pole-sitter Leclerc emerged unscathed from a close encounter with Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.

The close fight ahead continued, with the Red Bulls barely ahead of Alonso, and then half an hour later, two-tenths behind the pack led by Hulkenberg and Gasly.

The top three were split by 0.012 before Verstappen raised the bar again at 1:29.603 after switching to soft for a brief simulation of what could be ahead in qualifying.

During this time, Russell moved up to fourth place for Mercedes, while Hamilton was 11th. “We need to make some big changes,” Russell said sternly. “Yes, copy,” his pit wall countered, apparently responsive to the team’s need for a change in approach as they seek to reverse their decline.

F1 STAR ‘RELATED’ AFTER ROCKET ATTACK AND SPREAD

Lewis Hamilton feared for safety at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend in Jeddah, a year after a rocket attack near the track.

Yemeni rebels attacked an oil refinery near Jeddah Street Circuit last year, and journalists questioned the drivers about the state of their nerves.

Last year’s Grand Prix was marked by meetings between Formula 1 drivers and officials and the sport’s governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

The drivers said they were informed of the ceasefire between them. Saudi Arabia and Yemeni rebels now.

Most drivers said that Formula One had made progress in improving safety, but the wider range of human rights violations in Saudi Arabia remained a largely overlooked issue.

“I can’t speak for the other 19 drivers, but overall I think we’re happy and not worried about the changes that have taken place since last time this year,” Mercedes’ George Russell said.

“I had a lot of lessons to learn and Formula 1 really stepped up – not just here in Saudi Arabia, but at all Grands Prix.”

Others, including Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and McLaren’s Lando Norris, expressed their full confidence in the sports administration, a sentiment not shared by another Mercedes driver: seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

When asked about his feelings on his return to racing in Saudi Arabia, he said, “There really isn’t much to add, but it’s the other way around,” referring to Stroll and Perez, who spoke to him at the press conference.

“I hope everyone has a safe weekend and I hope that after that everyone will return safe and sound. That’s all we can do, right?”

Speaking about last year, Magnussen said: “None of us liked it. But I think it’s a different situation now, with a different protocol and a ceasefire between the two parties involved, and that gives some confidence.”

Perez said he was “happy to be back”.

Hamilton raised another issue – the rights situation in Saudi Arabia. “I still believe that as sport visits places with human rights issues such as this one, it is the responsibility of sport to raise awareness and try to make a positive impact.”

The rights group Reprieve accused F1 of “never seriously addressing human rights and how sport is being used to divert attention from abuses by some of the world’s most repressive regimes.”

Suspension director Maya Foa said at least 13 executions have been carried out in Saudi Arabia in the past two weeks.

Formula 1 responded with a statement that it has made clear its “position on human rights and other issues to all of our partners and host countries who are committed to respecting human rights in the conduct and conduct of their events.”

CAN MAX DRIVE?

Two-time world champion Max Verstappen has delayed his arrival at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix by 24 hours due to a stomach ailment.

But the 25-year-old Dutchman confirmed in a tweet that he is “feeling good again” and, after postponing his flight to Jeddah, will instead arrive for training on Friday.

His Red Bull team also tweeted to confirm Verstappen’s absence. “In the last few days, Max has been suffering from a stomach ailment and, with the consent of the FIA, will not be present at the track today,” the team said.

After winning Red Bull’s devastating run at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen leads the drivers’ standings ahead of teammate Sergio Pérez.

FERRARI IS IN PROBLEM

Charles Leclerc said on Thursday that he and the Ferrari team are concerned about continued reliability issues but still believe in their potential.

The Monaco driver will pay for mechanical problems with a 10-place grid penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.

On its first weekend in Bahrain, Ferrari replaced two electronic engine components in Leclerc’s car and announced on Wednesday that it was being replaced for the third time. This means that even before the start of the second race, Leclerc had overcome the allowed amount of two power unit changes in a season of 23 races.

“So it is,” he said. “It’s the start of the season and of course it’s not a perfect start. But what can I do about it?

“Now we need to focus on what is ahead, what we can do to become a better team, to achieve more.

“This weekend we start with the back foot, but our goal is to try to do something special. I love the challenge of starting a little on the back foot and trying to do something special and get back to the front as fast as possible!” He said he was working to inspire the team and restore morale after the season-opening race in Bahrain, where he was forced to retire due to a powertrain problem.

“We still have a lot of races ahead of us and we still have to fight like crazy to get back to the top and keep fighting,” he admitted.

“I still believe in it and of course we still have to believe in it because this is only the first race. So, things didn’t go as planned, and when it’s a Ferrari and things don’t go as they should, then there’s a lot of voices around the team and all that.” Carlos Sainz echoed the opinion of his teammates.

“Yes, of course, we are concerned,” said the Spaniard. “This is not the way to start the season with a penalty in the second race. We identified battery issues as a weakness and it took us by surprise.

“We are taking steps to fix this and we are confident that we can fix it in the short term.

“But so far the situation is bad. So we have to fix it, move forward and be more competitive.”

Originally published as F1 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race time Australia, qualifying, results, draw, Oscar Piastri