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Before qualifying it had looked like Max Verstappen would struggle to be as fast as McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri [Reuters]
Lando Norris crashed out of qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and will start 10th as Max Verstappen beat the Briton's McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to pole position.
Verstappen pipped Piastri by 0.01 seconds to take his second pole position of the year in scintillating style.
Mercedes' George Russell was third, split from team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Williams' Carlos Sainz beat Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton to sixth place, ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine's Pierre Gasly.
Norris' crash interrupted the first runs of all his rivals in Q3 apart from Piastri, who laid down a marker just before his team-mate lost control over the kerb at Turn Five and slid sideways into the wall.
When the session resumed, Verstappen went out on his semi-used tyres and took over top spot in his Red Bull from Piastri by just 0.001secs.
The four-time world champion came straight back in to switch to fresh tyres and, while he warmed up, first Russell - and then Piastri - took top spot.
But Verstappen signalled his intent with a blistering first sector, 0.123secs quicker than Piastri. Although the Australian was quicker in both the second and third sectors, the Dutchman had done enough to grab pole.
Verstappen said: "I definitely didn't expect to be on pole here but the car came alive in the night and it was a lot more enjoyable to drive. The grip was coming to me. Around here a qualifying lap is extremely difficult. It is really satisfying.
"Tomorrow in the race it will be tough to keep them behind but we are going to give it a good go."
Piastri said: "Max has done a good job, another high-speed circuit for them, where they seem to have a little more success. Our pace is good. It's going to be a tough race, the tyres are softer than last year and we'll see if that plays to our advantage."
More to follow.
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