Lewis Hamilton was the man who denied Oliver Bearman making it through to Q3 in Saudi Arabia as Max Verstappen comfortably took his second pole of the season.
All eyes were on Bearman in Q1 as he got his first official qualifying run in an F1 car underway.
A clearly nervous first run had him at risk of dropping out in Q1 but he quickly got to grips in his second run that saw him briefly sit ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The teenager made a mistake on his third run, but he had already done enough to make it through to Q2.
Oliver Bearman qualified 11th
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Verstappen was once again setting the pace early as he topped the timesheet ahead of Lance Stroll and Leclerc.
It was more of a struggle for the British teenager in Q2 with another mistake putting him on the brink of elimination.
He gave it everything on his second run but heartbreakingly missed out by three-thousandths-of-a-second.
Hamilton was the man who denied his compatriot a chance of making it into Q3.
Heading into the final qualifying shootout, it became apparent that Verstappen was head and shoulders above the rest of the field once again.
He was on provisional pole after the first run with Sergio Perez his closest challenger.
Nobody looked like catching Verstappen and the reigning world champion secured pole with ease.
Leclerc managed to get on the front row again to give himself a fighting chance in Saturday’s race.
Fernando Alonso looked impressive all week and he put his Aston Martin on the second row alongside Sergio Perez.
Oliver Bearman only got the call to replace Carlos Sainz a few hours ago
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There was less than a tenth separating Leclerc, Perez and Alonso to indicate a close race between those three on Saturday.
McLaren locked out the third row with Oscar Piastri pipping Lando Norris to fifth with the Mercedes duo just behind them.
Both George Russell and Hamilton complained of issues throughout the week and they look far off the pace this weekend.
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Speaking after qualifying, Leclerc praised Bearman for his performance having only had a few runs in the SF-24.
“With only one session in FP3 he was straight up to speed and comfortable with the car, so it’s good.
“I’m happy for him obviously. It’s a very special day and the first race in Ferrari having only done one session I guess is even more special.
“I hope tomorrow we can both have a great race and score strong points for the team.”
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