The lap times after qualifying made grim reading for Aston Martin at the home round for their title sponsor.
Once practice and qualifying were completed, every car had lapped the Jeddah Corniche Circuit faster than its predecessor had managed with a single exception: the AMR25s of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
Teams’ performance
There was almost nothing to choose between the two quickest teams over a single lap. Red Bull claimed their fourth consecutive pole position in Jeddah by a hundredth of a second from McLaren.
Aston Martin weren’t slowest in qualifying – Alonso got them into Q2. But they have fallen from third-quickest team to eighth at this track in little more than a year.
Go ad-free for just £1 per month
>> Find out more and sign up
As Formula 1’s official tyre supplier has brought softer tyres for this weekend’s race, the lap times should fall compared to last year. However some of that was cancelled out by the hotter track temperatures, as this round is taking place later in the season.
Nonetheless, some teams posted significant improvements, particularly those which were less competitive at this stage last year. Even Red Bull and Ferrari have picked up a tenth of a second.
Aston Martin, however, are four tenths of a second slower. Alonso said he doubted there was much more performance left in the car after qualifying and his sector times (below) bear that out.
True, had Alonso reached Q3 he could have benefited from better track conditions and lapped quicker. But this also applies to other teams which failed to reach the final stage of qualifying, yet still posted better lap times than they did in 2024.
Field performance
The track record fell for the second year in a row in Jeddah. What’s more, it was beaten by no fewer than three different cars: Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and George Russell’s Mercedes.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Sector times
It was incredibly close at the top – and it could have been even closer. Had Verstappen and Piastri combined their best sector times on a single lap, the gap between them would have been just six thousandths of a second. Russell, too, could have got even closer.
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | 31.507 (1) | 27.714 (5) | 28.016 (2) | 1’27.237 (+0.057) |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 31.630 (2) | 27.624 (2) | 27.989 (1) | 1’27.243 (+0.061) |
| 3 | 63 | George Russell | 31.684 (3) | 27.550 (1) | 28.101 (7) | 1’27.335 (+0.072) |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | 31.745 (4) | 27.684 (4) | 28.052 (5) | 1’27.481 |
| 5 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 31.920 (8) | 27.682 (3) | 28.020 (4) | 1’27.622 (+0.176) |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 31.857 (5) | 27.753 (6) | 28.017 (3) | 1’27.627 (+0.043) |
| 7 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | 31.918 (7) | 27.830 (11) | 28.192 (9) | 1’27.940 (+0.050) |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 31.972 (9) | 27.833 (12) | 28.193 (10) | 1’27.998 (+0.104) |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 32.047 (11) | 27.822 (10) | 28.140 (8) | 1’28.009 (+0.015) |
| 10 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 31.901 (6) | 27.806 (7) | 28.309 (13) | 1’28.016 (+0.093) |
| 11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 32.136 (14) | 27.816 (8) | 28.073 (6) | 1’28.025 |
| 12 | 30 | Liam Lawson | 32.087 (13) | 27.890 (15) | 28.214 (11) | 1’28.191 |
| 13 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 32.021 (10) | 27.852 (13) | 28.430 (18) | 1’28.303 |
| 14 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | 32.209 (15) | 27.885 (14) | 28.322 (14) | 1’28.416 (+0.002) |
| 15 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | 32.489 (18) | 27.817 (9) | 28.218 (12) | 1’28.524 (+0.012) |
| 16 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 32.072 (12) | 28.054 (18) | 28.478 (20) | 1’28.604 (+0.041) |
| 17 | 7 | Jack Doohan | 32.223 (16) | 28.097 (19) | 28.373 (17) | 1’28.693 (+0.046) |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 32.477 (17) | 27.968 (16) | 28.323 (15) | 1’28.768 (+0.014) |
| 19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 32.718 (20) | 28.042 (17) | 28.332 (16) | 1’29.092 |
| 20 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 32.653 (19) | 28.129 (20) | 28.455 (19) | 1’29.237 (+0.225) |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
