Watch: Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo hyped to watch Max Verstappen's Q3 lap

The battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 F1 World Drivers' Championship has everyone intrigued up and down the grid.

It has been a while since the drivers' title has been this hotly contested. On the last such occasion in 2016, Hamilton was trumped by his then-teammate Nico Rosberg to the laurel.

Even the grid's premier drivers like Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo are hooked on, as evident during the qualifying session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Both Ricciardo and Alonso were giving their post-qualifying interviews when Verstappen was on his final run during qualifying.

Max Verstappen's last lap in qualifying saw the Dutch driver pushing his car, and himself, to the limit. He had a moment in the first sector which caught both Ricciardo and Alonso by surprise when Verstappen was still able to set the fastest sector time.

This was precisely why both Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo were shocked after Verstappen messed up the last corner and slammed into the wall. He would end up destroying the lap and losing pole position.

It just goes on to show how sometimes the rest of the grid puts on their fan hats while watching what is arguably one of the best title battles in the history of the sport.

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Max Verstappen faces an uphill task at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Starting P3 on a track where overtaking opportunities are not easy to come by could be challenging for the Red Bull driver.

Couple that with Mercedes holding an edge in terms of straight-line speed, the championship leader has his work cut out for him.

As the race unfolds, it will become apparent whether losing out on pole position has hurt Max Verstappen's title chances. For now, the advantage is with Mercedes.