(Football news) The reigning champion is trying to solidify his hold on the top spot in the standings after leading the first two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The driver for Red Bull has advanced closer to his goal by holding off the reappearance of Carlos Sainz Jr. to maintain his position at the top of the grid.

Due to the need for surgery for appendicitis, Sainz was unable to compete in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix; however, the Spaniard set the quickest times in qualifying and second. In Q3, Verstappen managed to make up ground on the Ferrari driver, finishing 0.270 seconds clear of him, with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez coming in third. 

Perez will instead start down in sixth, though, courtesy of being handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Hulkenberg.

Lando Norris was fourth fastest in the McLaren, with Charles Leclerc having to make do with fifth quickest in the second Ferrari, with just over half a second covering the top five.

In qualifying for his home Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri was sixth fastest, with the Mercedes of George Russell and RB of Yuki Tsunoda occupying the fourth row of the grid.

Although they were both more than a second slower than Verstappen, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, drivers of Aston Martins, rounded out the top 10.

After an earlier practice, Lewis Hamilton had acknowledged that he was not very confident in his career’s performance. Nevertheless, he had to settle with 11th place.

Also read: How NEOM McLaren Extreme E delivered with its new look line-up in Saudi Arabia