Red Bull Racing have secured two of the top three places in qualifying ahead of tomorrow's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen claimed pole position, his first ever in Jeddah, while teammate Sergio Pérez claimed the third-fastest lap in qualifying, sandwiching Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in P2.
Verstappen, fresh off the back of a perfect Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, in which he claimed pole position in qualifying and subsequently completed a grand slam en route to his 55th career win, continued his stellar opening by claiming P1 for a second consecutive race.
The Dutchman, and reigning World Champion, finished atop the classifications after each stage of qualifying, posting a session-best time of 1:27.472.
This was good enough to beat out Leclerc, who snuck into P2 right at the end of Q3 with a 1:27.791 lap - 0.319 seconds slower than Verstappen.
Speaking after the race, Verstappen said: "It was a very good day, I think so far. We improved the car a little bit overnight, and it gave me a bit more confidence to attack the high-speed corners."
He added: "Around here, of course, it all depends a lot on your confidence level how much you can go to the limit and I really think today I felt very comfortable with the car. Throughout qualifying it's pretty crazy how fast you go around here."
He concluded by saying: "It was very good, I had a lot of fun and the car was behaving really well."
Meanwhile, Pérez, who has a positive history at Jeddah Corniche Circuit having claimed two of his three career pole positions as well as top spot in last year's race, had been sitting in P2 until the Monagasque driver pipped him.
The veteran Mexican driver posted a lap time of 1:27.807, just 0.016 seconds behind Leclerc and 0.335 behind his teammate, and will be hoping that his previous history at the track can lead him to another podium finish.
Speaking to reporters after qualifying P3, Pérez commented: "I didn't get much of an improvement on the final lap, which I think is why we missed the front row, but overall Max has done a tremendous lap."
"That was not possible for me today, but I think being on the front row was achievable. But anyway, we're still in the fight for tomorrow."
He added: "Tomorrow, it's a long race and anything can really happen."
When asked about tomorrow's race and going up against Verstappen and Leclerc, Pérez said: "It will be quite interesting. I think it will be a long, fun race, there will be plenty of action. The cars around us are already close, so it will be a very interesting battle tomorrow."
