Jeddah is terrifying. Honestly, if you watch the on-board footage from any F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying session, the speed through the walls is enough to make your stomach do backflips. It’s the fastest street circuit in the history of Formula 1.
Last year, the drama reached a fever pitch. We saw the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, snatch pole by the skin of his teeth, but that’s not really why everyone was talking about it the next morning. It was about Lando Norris buried in a barrier and the emergence of a certain Oscar Piastri as a genuine qualifying threat.
Qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit isn't like qualifying at Monaco or Singapore. In Monaco, you're dancing between walls at relatively low speeds. In Jeddah? You’re threading a needle at 250km/h. One twitch, one millimeter of oversteer, and your car is carbon fiber confetti.
What Really Happened with F1 Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying
The 2025 session was basically a psychological thriller. Going into the hour, the McLarens looked like the cars to beat. Lando Norris had been flying in the practice sessions, looking like he had the MCL38 on rails. But the Jeddah walls don't care about practice times.
During Q3, Norris pushed just a fraction too hard through the high-speed Turn 4-5-6 complex. It was a heavy hit. The championship leader—who was ahead of his teammate by a tiny margin at the time—was suddenly out of the running, leaving his car mangled and his starting position at a dismal P10.
This opened the door wide for Max Verstappen. Verstappen’s Red Bull hadn't looked perfect all weekend, but when the sun went down and the track temperature dropped to 38°C, the car finally "came alive," as he put it. He clocked a 1:27.294.
That lap was a work of art. It beat Oscar Piastri by exactly 0.010s. Ten-thousandths of a second. That's the blink of an eye.
The Starting Grid Breakdown
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull): 1:27.294 (Pole Position)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren): 1:27.304 (Front Row)
- George Russell (Mercedes): 1:27.407
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): 1:27.670
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes): 1:27.866
- Carlos Sainz (Williams): 1:28.164
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari): 1:28.201
George Russell was actually holding P1 for a brief moment before the heavy hitters finished their final runs. And let’s talk about Kimi Antonelli. Replacing a legend like Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes is a massive weight, but putting that car P5 on one of the most dangerous tracks in the world? That’s how you silence the doubters.
The Logistics Most Fans Forget
The timing of F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying is crucial because of the transition from day to night. FP3 happens in the heat of the late afternoon, but Qualifying starts at 20:00 local time.
The track evolution is massive. As the asphalt cools, the grip levels skyrocket. If a team misses the setup window by even a tiny bit, they're toast. We saw this with Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll struggled to find any rhythm, with Stroll failing to even make it out of Q1, qualifying 16th.
Then you have the rookies. Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls had a massive scare hitting the wall in Q1, and Gabriel Bortoleto—the reigning F2 champ—suffered a spin at Turn 1 that left him dead last on the grid. Jeddah is a brutal teacher.
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Why the Gap to Pole Was So Small
You've got three DRS zones in Jeddah. This means that qualifying isn't just about cornering speed; it's about how efficiently your car sheds drag on the long, curved "straights."
Red Bull’s RB21 (the 2025 car) was a rocket in a straight line. Piastri was actually faster through the twisty first sector, but Verstappen clawed it all back in the final run to the line.
It’s interesting to note that while McLaren had the better overall balance, the raw power and ERS deployment of the Red Bull gave Verstappen that extra hundredth. Ferrari, meanwhile, seemed to be struggling with their front-end bite, leaving Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (in his first season with the Scuderia) further back than they wanted to be.
Watching for the "Jeddah Twitch"
If you’re watching highlights or a replay, keep an eye on Turn 22. It’s a left-hander that the drivers take almost flat out. It’s where Lewis Hamilton famously nearly lost it in previous years, and where Yuki Tsunoda had a session-ending crash during practice in 2025.
In qualifying, the drivers are using the exit curbs to the absolute limit. In Jeddah, those curbs are narrow. If you drop a wheel onto the dusty part of the track at that speed, you’re a passenger.
Lessons from the 2025 Session
- Track Position is King: Getting a clean gap in Q1 and Q2 is a nightmare because the track is so long (6.174 km) but the racing line is so narrow. We saw Pierre Gasly almost have his session ruined by a tyre warmer getting stuck on his car as he left the garage—chaos is always just around the corner.
- The "Old Guard" vs. The New: Seeing Carlos Sainz put a Williams in P6 while Hamilton struggled in P7 shows that car familiarity and confidence mean more than raw prestige on a street circuit.
- Confidence is Currency: Once Norris crashed, the energy in the McLaren garage shifted. Piastri had to carry the weight alone, and he almost did it.
For anyone looking to understand the technical side, the cars are running a "low-to-medium" downforce setup. It’s a compromise. You need the wing to stay stuck in the corners, but too much wing makes you a sitting duck on the run to Turn 27.
The 2025 F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying proved that even if you have the fastest car, like McLaren arguably did, the Jeddah walls are the ultimate equalizer. Max Verstappen didn't win pole because his car was the fastest; he won it because he was the only one in the top three who didn't make a single mistake on his final lap.
To get the most out of future sessions, pay close attention to the sector times rather than the overall lap. Often, a driver will go "purple" in Sector 1 but lose it all in the high-speed sweeps of Sector 2. That’s where the real skill gap lies. If you want to see who is truly on the limit, watch the gap between the car and the wall at Turn 27—it's usually less than the width of a smartphone.
Check the official F1 app for the telemetry data after the session. Comparing the throttle traces of Verstappen and Piastri through the final sector reveals exactly where that 0.010s was found. It’s usually in the bravery of staying flat through a corner where the brain is screaming at you to lift.