F1 qualifying LIVE: Lewis Hamilton eyes pole position in Saudi Arabia Grand Prix for Mercedes but Max Verstappen looks to maintain his dominance

It’s the Max Verstappen show once again – he’s nearly five-tenths quicker than team-mate Sergio Perez in second!

Lance Stroll is third for Aston Martin while Lewis Hamilton is fourth; nine-tenths behind the leading Red Bull.

Verstappen forced to apologise to Lando Norris, by the way, for blocking the McLaren on a hot lap. Not the first issue with traffic this weekend… could be problematic come Q1!

As for the Ferraris? Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz yet to set a time on softs for some reason or another…

Normal order resumed. Sergio Perez goes fastest on softs with a 1:29:417, while Max Verstappen is a tenth down… but on a HARD tyre! Absolutely rapid from the Dutchman!

It’s an Alpine three-four, with Pierre Gasly in third and Esteban Ocon fourth.

5-10: Russell, Albon, Hamilton, Norris, Leclerc, Sainz

Qualifying simulation laps coming right up though!

It’s a Mercedes one-two early on, with George Russell quickest on softs with 1:30:476, with Lewis Hamilon 0.016 seconds down.

Third is the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, while Max Verstappen is fourth but on HARD tyres – only 0.248 seconds down on Russell!

6-10: Ocon, Magnussen, Bottas, Zhou, Hulkenberg

We’ve got third practice coming up live from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit!

Can anyone topple Max Verstappen and claim top spot under the beating sun in Saudi?

Toto Wolff is honest about how Mercedes approached last year’s change in regulations… and persevering with the same philosophy this year.

Mercedes, so dominant in Formula 1 from 2014-2021 with eight Constructors’ Championships, had a season to forget in 2022 as new regulations caught them out and they finished third in the standings.

And Hamilton – who last won an F1 race at the Jeddah track in December 2021, 24 grand prix ago – admitted it was a “shock” when he first drove the W14 car last month, acknowledging that three teams are currently ahead of them.

“Once I drove the car for the first time, you start to do that [re-assess goals] with the challenges you’re facing,” the 38-year-old said.

“It’s a similar situation to last year – it’s a shock when the car isn’t where you want it to be but you have 100% faith in the people you work with. We’re not where we want to be and we need to keep working on it.

“We need the Red Bulls and Ferraris not to finish the race, maybe the Astons too, to be winning [ourselves]. It doesn’t mean we can’t catch them up…”

• Free Practice 3: 1:30pm
• Qualifying: 5pm

The entire race schedule will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 in the UK, with the race on Sunday live on Sky Sports Main Event too. It will be broadcasted on ESPN in the United States.

Highlights will be aired on Channel 4; for qualifying at at 8:50pm (GMT) on Saturday and for the race at 10:15pm on Sunday.

If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

Having produced a car similar in design to 2022’s troubled challenger – with a unique “zero-pod” approach – Toto Wolff admitted that he is set to ditch this breed of car after seeing the roughly second-a-lap deficit to Red Bull in Sunday’s grand prix.

“It seems to me that Mercedes went the wrong way in 2022 and refuse to turn around,” Brundle said in his Sky Sports column.

“Even Lewis and Toto were openly expressing their disappointment at certain points of the weekend, and normally they only sing the praises of the teams at Brackley and Brixworth. It must be tense at the team right now, the quality is there, it just needs direction and oxygen to calm heads.”

Here’s a fascinating side-by-side of the two fastest laps in FP2 last night!

Who’s your money on this afternoon?

Sky Sports have added former McLaren and Aston Martin strategy chief Bernie Collins to their Formula 1 punditry line-up for the 2023 season.

Collins, who was a performance engineer at McLaren and head of race strategy at Aston Martin, will first feature on Sky in the paddock at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.

Sky say she will feature at other races throughout the year, as well as at Sky Studios, and is the first addition to the Sky F1 team since Johnny Herbert and Paul di Resta left in the off-season.

“I am really excited to begin this new chapter with the Sky Sports F1 team and want to thank them for the opportunity,” Collins said in a Sky press release. “After many years on the pit wall I’m keen to embrace this new role within F1 from a viewer’s perspective and enhance their experience of racing.”

Collins’ role will “help explain and demystify all things team strategy and engineering for Sky Sports F1 viewers old and new.”