Max Verstappen was the odds-on favourite for pole position in Jeddah, but his chance to live up to expectations saw him go up in smoke when his driveshaft failed during Q2. In his place, Sergio Perez took pole, minimising the damage for Red Bull Racing.
As a result of the technical problems, Verstappen could not set a time in Q2, so he will have to settle for 15th starting position. The reigning world champion, therefore, has quite a catch-up race ahead of him, but Fernando Alonso and George Russell, among others, have already indicated that they see Verstappen fighting for victory on Sunday.
Nyck de Vries also ran into problems. Having missed FP3, Q1 did not go ideally for him, leaving him stuck in eighteenth place. Lando Norris was also stranded in Q1: he saw his qualifying end early after his McLaren hit the wall.