Perez surpassed Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari. in his final round, pushing his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen – the world champion – in fourth place. All day, the focus was on why F1 racing so close to the bombed-out, smoke-covered warehouse about 11 miles (seven miles) off the track. Sainz Jr. agreed with the decision to race, but said the issue would not be resolved when F1 goes to Australia and then to Europe. “Discussions will need to take place after this race,” said the Spanish driver. “Because what happened in the last 24 hours is definitely a matter of debate.” Lewis Hamilton is usually so honest about human rights and other important issues. But this time he said little about the collective decision to fight – which followed hours of debate on Friday night – other than that he was looking forward to going home. “I am not here to comment. “We all discussed as a team and made a decision as a sport,” said Hamilton. “I do not feel it very much, I look forward to leaving.” The seven-time world champion Hamilton holds the F1 record with 103 pole positions and 103 wins, however he created one of the worst performances ever in the standings in 16th place. There was a serious accident during the second part of the qualifiers as Mick Schumacher deformed Haas’ car by turning and sliding backwards against a wall on the ragged Jiddah track, raising a red flag. Schumacher was airlifted by helicopter for testing. Haas team manager Guenther Steiner said he could be held overnight as a precaution and would not play. “The best thing is that Mick obviously has no injuries. “He is in the hospital at the moment and is being evaluated by doctors, so he is in good hands,” Steiner said. “Based on these data and where we are, we decided not to put his car tomorrow.” However, most of the talk on Saturday was not about racing. Earlier in the day, group leaders were adamant it was safe to continue driving in Jeddah after late-night meetings with security officials and government officials following a recent attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels. “It simply came to our notice then. “They explained the situation,” said Aston Martin’s Mike Krack. “They explained it to us in a very credible way.” Williams chief Jost Capito said an independent observer offered further confirmation. “There was also another defense man, not from here but from a different country, who looked at it independently and confirmed that everything was in place,” Capito said, without revealing who he was. Conversations between drivers, team leaders and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali focused on safety and security conditions. All 20 drivers continued to talk after 2 a.m. to discuss safety issues. Leclerc was reluctant to talk about it. “We do not really want to go into details about what we discussed there. It was more a matter of getting together as drivers. “Because it was at least a difficult time,” he said. “We have to listen to the people who care about our safety here and we have to trust them.” Ferrari CEO Mattia Binotto said the decision to continue was the right one. But the team leaders also said that no driver or team member would have stopped leaving. In a previous statement, F1 and the FIA justified the races “after discussions with all teams and drivers”. The Houthis acknowledged the attacks on Friday night and were described by Saudi state television as “hostile”. Jinda’s oil depot burst into flames from a rocket attack during Friday’s first training session. It caused a raging fire that hit F1. Hamilton and other drivers have previously expressed concern about the fighting in the region, particularly in the context of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of the North Jiddah Bulk Plant, the same fuel depot that the Houthis attacked five days earlier. The factory is located just southeast of the city’s international airport. The plant stores diesel, gasoline and jet fuel for use in the kingdom’s second largest city. It accounts for more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s total supplies. A Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen has launched a barrage of airstrikes in the Yemeni capital and a strategic Red Sea city, officials said on Saturday. Overnight airstrikes in Sanaa and Hodeidah – both held by the Houthis – responded to the Jeddah attack. The track is hosting an F1 race for the second time, after the opening race last December. After Ferrari’s Leclerc reached the top of the third practice session to make it sweeping, with Hamilton in 11th place as a clue to what to do next, the qualifiers began at 8 p.m. local time under the headlights. Hamilton found himself in the rare position of exclusion from Q1, the first part of the qualifiers. “The car could not be driven, so nervous. I was constantly losing the back of the car, “said Hamilton, who said he chose the wrong set-up.” Just hard to drive. Much, much harder than ever. “ After the Schumacher crash with five minutes left in Q2, it took about an hour for the session to continue. Leclerc searched for a second consecutive pole after winning Bahrain’s opening GP from there last Sunday, but lost an 11th career pole by 0.025 seconds on a slippery slope that Perez called “definitely the most dangerous” part of the day.
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