JEDDAH (Reuters) -World champion Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in dramatic style on Saturday as McLaren's Formula One leader Lando Norris hit the wall and qualified 10th.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri, bidding to become the first Australian to lead the standings since Mark Webber in 2010, joined the four-times world champion on the front row for Sunday's night race in Jeddah.
Mercedes's George Russell and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will share the second row at the super-fast Corniche circuit where the winner has come from pole three out of four times previously.
"The car came alive in the night," exclaimed Verstappen, who is eight points behind Norris, after pipping Piastri by one hundredth of a second with a last-gasp flyer.
The pole position changed hands three times in a final burst of flying laps with Verstappen producing a one minute 27.294 second effort for his second pole in three races.
"I think in the race it will be difficult to keep them behind. But we will give it a good go," said Verstappen, winner last year.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed, saying: "What we've seen this weekend, the McLaren is very, very quick, particularly in race trim. So I think we’re going to have a hell of a fight on our hands to try to keep Oscar behind us."
HAMILTON SEVENTH
Italian 18-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli qualified fifth for Mercedes, with Carlos Sainz sixth for Williams and Lewis Hamilton only seventh for Ferrari and half a second slower than his team mate.
Verstappen's team mate Yuki Tsunoda will start eighth with Alpine's Pierre Gasly ninth.
Norris was fastest in final practice and the second phase of qualifying, after Verstappen had led the first, but brought out red flags with eight-and-a-half minutes remaining when he hit the wall at the exit of turn four.
The Briton, who leads Piastri by three points, signalled over the team radio that he was unhurt while calling himself an idiot.
All of the four previous races in Jeddah have featured safety car periods, which could help Norris to make up ground in the race.
"He'll certainly be faster than he qualified," said McLaren boss Zak Brown.
Piastri was the only one with a Q3 time on the board when the crash halted the session, his 1:27.560 effort slower than Norris's best of 1:27.481 in Q2.
Verstappen then went top when the track action resumed but Russell and Piastri went faster again before the Red Bull driver's last effort.
"To be honest, I was pretty happy with it. There wasn’t too much more left in that lap, so happy with the job I did," said Piastri. "That last lap felt more or less like the best I could have done.
"It’s still all to fight for tomorrow. I think our pace is good. It’s going to be a tough race and the tyres are a bit softer than last year, so we’ll see if that plays to our advantage."
Hamilton squeezed through to the final top-10 shootout, the 40-year-old just 0.007 quicker than 11th-placed Alex Albon in the Williams.
"I'd been nowhere all weekend, 13th I think in almost every session, so I feel grateful to have got to Q3 and P7," said the Briton.
Liam Lawson qualified 12th and ahead of his Racing Bulls rookie team mate Isack Hadjar in 14th.
Oliver Bearman, who made a sensational F1 debut with Ferrari as a stand-in for Sainz at last year's Saudi race, will line up 15th for Haas.
Aston Martin, marking their 100th Formula One race as a marque, had another difficult session with double world champion Fernando Alonso 13th and Lance Stroll 16th.
Australian rookie Jack Doohan was 17th fastest for Renault-owned Alpine.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)
