Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin will start second on the starting lineup because Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, who qualified in second place, has a 10-place grid penalty for engine usage.
Verstappen will start 15th after his driveshaft failed during the second practice session. George Russell of Mercedes will start third, ahead of Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.
Lance Stroll, a teammate of Alonso’s, finished sixth fastest, ahead of Esteban Ocon of Alpine, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, Oscar Piastri of McLaren, and Pierre Gasly of the second Alpine.
Lando Norris will start down in 19th after making a driving mistake in the first session that caused him to touch the inside wall at the last circuit. He offered his team his sincere apologies for the “silly mistake” he had made.
British-born Thai In the Williams, Alex Albon finished 17th.
How Perez claimed pole
In final qualifying, Perez set the pole time on the first lap in which he was little under 0.5 seconds faster than Leclerc.
On his second run, he made a mistake and locked up into Turn One. On their laps, the competitors grew nearer, but the Red Bull had more than enough speed to keep them at bay.
“It was tricky, the Q3, not getting the second lap,” Perez said. “Just nailing that lap, you really feel the F1 cars coming alive in this place.”
Knowing that he will slip to 12th on the grid as a result of his second-fastest time, Leclerc felt conflicted about it.
His punishment is a result of two distinct electronic control unit failures in Bahrain two weeks ago. Since just two are allowed for the entire season, Ferrari had to install a new one in Saudi Arabia.
 “Happy? Yes and no. On the one hand, it has been a very difficult weekend in terms of pace for us. I am very happy about my lap – I put everything in it and it was really on the limit. On the other hand, Red Bull are on another planet.”
Leclerc said
