Mick Schumacher has reportedly escaped injury after a high-speed crash during qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The son of racing legend Michael Schumacher was airlifted to hospital after the 270kph smash, but race officials wrote on Twitter that an on-track assessment revealed no injuries and the hospital visit was precautionary.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner confirmed the 23-year-old appeared unhurt.

"I didn't speak with him directly, he's spoken to his mum," he said.

"I spoke with his mum a few times and kept her updated.

"He has no injuries which you can see. They just wanted to check on him and do some scans to see that there's no damage from the impact and the forces.

"It seems like he's gone on the kerb and just lost the car. We just lost all the data immediately on the impact. We had no contact with him after the contact."

Haas announced on Sunday morning that Schumacher would not take his place in the race and the team would run with one car.

Perez takes pole, Hamilton struggles

Sergio Perez took his first career pole position as the event continued amid heavy scrutiny on Saturday, the day after an attack on a nearby oil depot.

Perez edged the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr on his final lap, pushing his own Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen — the world champion — down to fourth.

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All day, the focus was on why F1 went ahead with racing so close to the smoke-covered depot located about 11km from the track.

"I'm not here to comment on that,” Lewis Hamilton said.

"Together as a group we all discussed and made a decision as a sport.

"I don’t feel a particular way about it. I'm looking forward to getting out."

The seven-time world champion is F1′s record holder with 103 pole positions and 103 wins yet he produced one of his worst-ever qualifying performances in 16th.

Earlier in the day, following late-night meetings with security and government officials, team principals were adamant it was safe to carry on driving after the nearby attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

"We had quite a few high-ranked authorities yesterday. They explained the situation," Aston Martin's Mike Krack said.

"They explained it to us in a very credible way."

Williams boss Jost Capito said an independent observer offered further reassurance.

"There was also another defence person, not from here but from a different country, who looked into that independently and confirmed everything is in place," Capito said, without revealing who it was.

Conversations between drivers, team principals and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali centered on safety and security conditions. All 20 drivers kept talking past 2am to discuss safety concerns.

Ferrari principal Mattia Binotto said the decision to continue was correct. But team principals also said no driver or team member would have been stopped from leaving.

ABC/AP