Dutchman Verstappen has given every impression he could win every race this year, looking comfortable in the car and out of reach of his rivals.
This was one of only two races where Perez beat him last year, but Verstappen operated on a different level than his teammate on the high-speed Jeddah Street circuit, so that chance is far from clear this weekend. There wasn't.
“It was a very good day,” he said. “I improved the car a little bit overnight so I have a little bit more confidence attacking the fast corners.
“You need confidence to go to the limit here. To go this fast in qualifying is unbelievable.
“The first lap of Q3, I was very happy with the way I did my lap. It was very similar to the lap I failed in 2011. The car behaved very well.”
That was a reference to the famous lap that wasn't there in 2021, in the midst of a fierce title battle with Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen's driving was so impressive that Fernando Alonso interrupted his TV interview to watch it and instructed Daniel Ricciardo to do the same. However, Verstappen hit the wall on the exit of the final corner and was unable to complete the lap.
Perez said: “Max had a great lap, which wasn't possible for me today. Being on the front row was achievable, but we're in the fight for tomorrow.” he said.
“I tried to do something different, like do a warm-up lap on the first lap of Q3, but it didn't work out,” Leclerc said.
“I gave it my all on the second lap. It's a shame that I couldn't get as close as I expected, but I hope I can challenge Red Bull tomorrow.”
“It's definitely a step forward for us compared to last year. We just have to focus on ourselves.”
Just as in qualifying in Bahrain a week ago, the impressive Alonso in his Aston Martin was followed by Australian Oscar Piastri in his McLaren, who was just 0.043 seconds ahead of teammate Lando Norris. There was a difference of 0.243 seconds.
Mercedes unfortunately fell off the pace, with Russell 0.844 seconds slower than Verstappen. The consolation for Hamilton, who was 0.144s behind, was that the seven-time champion was at least reasonably close to his teammate after struggling for much of the weekend.
RB Hiroki Tsunoda and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll finished in the top 10, 0.726 seconds behind Alonso.