Lando Norris denied himself a chance to start from pole for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after crashing out on his first attempt.
The Briton was trading fastest laps with teammate Oscar Piastri throughout the weekend, which set up a thrilling battle between the pair in the final part of qualifying.
But as Norris attempted his first timed lap, he took too much kerb exiting Turn 4, which caused the rear of his McLaren to slide and send him into the barriers.
The accident took place just three seconds after Piastri set his provisional pole lap, and almost certainly confirmed that Norris would not be in contention for pole as the damage to his car was too great to continue.
When the session restarted, it was Max Verstappen who triumphed over Piastri by 0.010s at the line. McLaren looked like they were in a class of their own, but Helmut Marko felt they were not showing their true pace all weekend, according to F1Maximaal.nl.
Helmut Marko says Red Bull ‘irritated’ by Lando Norris crash
Red Bull appeared to be on the back foot in practice after Verstappen complained of his usual balance issues, while Yuki Tsunoda crashed at the end of FP2.
The team was nearly half a second adrift during the morning practice session on Saturday, but this was when the track temperature was at its highest during the day.
Despite chasing for more performance, they quickly realised they were closer than previously thought when the temperatures cooled down at night.
“I think McLaren was bluffing a lot in the last free practice. I think they had very little fuel in the car,” said Marko.
“That bluff from McLaren irritated us all. After Lando Norris hit the wall, we realised that the situation looked very different again.”
Red Bull earns pole with different tyre strategy to McLaren
Red Bull went into qualifying with a better tyre strategy than McLaren, having been the only team, along with Mercedes, to have an extra set of soft tyres available for Verstappen.
This gave them the advantage of being able to do two runs in Q3 on new tyres, although it would require a quick turnaround after Norris’ crash delayed procedures.
Verstappen put the pressure on with his first attempt, which was 0.001s faster than Piastri’s provisional pole lap and had higher fuel, then went even faster on his second attempt.
Red Bull now has the benefit of clean air, while Tsunoda starts ahead of Norris can could be used as a blockade to help prevent him from finishing on the podium.
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