Australian Formula One rookie Oscar Piastri has had his best day yet for McLaren, finishing ninth in qualifying for the Saudi Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has taken pole position, while Piastri’s teammate, Lando Norris, could manage only 19th in the 20-strong field after grazing a wall.

Formula One champion Max Verstappen’s campaign also didn’t go according to plan, with a driveshaft failure relegating him to the 15th spot.

Aston Martin’s 41-year-old double world champion Fernando Alonso, who had hoped for his first pole since Germany 2012 with Ferrari, will join the Mexican on the front row for Sunday’s race in Jeddah.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified second fastest but he has a 10-place grid penalty that will drop the Monegasque to 12th place.

Perez’s best time of one minute 28.265 seconds around the floodlit Corniche street circuit was more than a tenth quicker than Leclerc’s effort.

“You really feel the Formula One cars coming alive in this place and maximising that lap was very important,” said Perez of what was also his second career pole.

“It’s a shame,” he added of Verstappen’s early departure. “Max has been really strong the whole weekend so hopefully tomorrow we can have both cars up there.”

Long time coming

Alonso will be the first Aston Martin driver to start a grand prix on the front row since Britain’s Roy Salvadori at Silverstone in 1959.

Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will share the second row.

Verstappen, last year’s winner in Jeddah, had dominated all three practice sessions and was fastest in the first phase of qualifying before it all went wrong.

“I have a problem,” he told the team over the radio.

“It’s almost not accelerating,” added the Dutch driver as he nursed the car back to the pits and was pushed back into the garage before stepping out with just over six minutes of the second session remaining.

“It will be a bit more tricky to get to the front but it will be all about scoring points,” said Verstappen.

“Let’s stay realistic — it is going to be tough but we have good pace so let’s move forward.”

Both the AlphaTauris also went out at the first hurdle, with Yuki Tsunoda qualifying 16th and Dutch rookie teammate Nyck de Vries spinning on his way to 18th.

-AAP