F1 Abu Dhabi Qualifying: Max Verstappen on pole in title decider

F1 Abu Dhabi Qualifying: Max Verstappen on pole in title decider

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured the all-important pole position for tomorrow’s title-decider as his championship rival, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, secures P2. 

Q1

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel led the queuing field out of the pit lane as the green light came on to start the final qualifying session of 2021.

Strangely, the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz opted to use the Medium, yellow-stripped, compound tyres for their first run while the rest of the grid used the soft, red-stripped, tyres.

Red Bull’s Verstappen set the first competitive time with a 1:23.680 lap. His championship rival, Hamilton, started his first flying lap with just over 13 minutes to go.

The Dutchman’s first time was easily beaten by Hamilton, who put in a blistering lap that was 0.414 seconds faster than Verstappen.

The session was soon red flagged as the session peaked over its half way point as a track marshal had to venture onto the track and collect a loose ballard. Haas of Mick Schumacher collected the Ballard on the apex of turn 16 and removed it from its placement. However, Lando Norris’ McLaren sucked up the loose Ballard and spat it back out onto the racing line.

With six minutes left on the clock, it wasn’t long before the session was back underway. As such, the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz went back out on track with the soft compound tyres.

Eliminated:

20. Nikita Mazepin, Haas

19. Mick Schumacher, Haas

18. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo

17. George Russell, Williams

16. Nicholas Latifi, Williams

Q2

In a usual fashion, the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were the first to venture out onto the track with the medium tyres secured to their W12’s. Red Bull went for the same tyre choice on their drivers first flying laps.

Hamilton set the first qualifying time with a 1:23.185 lap. Verstappen put in a similar time, on his first flying lap, but could only put in a time of 1:23.189, 0.004 seconds slower than his championship rival.

As the field sat in their pit garages, Sainz put in the fastest lap on the board with a 1:23.174 lap on the soft tyre. However, Verstappen claimed he flat spotted his tyre as the Dutchman locked up into turn one – the same set of tyres he will have to start the race on, if he can’t beat his best time.

With two and a half minutes left on the clock, there was traffic paradise in the second sector as all the drivers tried to fight it out for track position.

Hamilton topped the timing board once again with a 1:23.145 but he was soon beaten by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Verstappen, who set faster laps on the soft compound tyres.

Eliminated:

15. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

14. Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo

13. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

12. Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri

11. Fernando Alonso, Alpine

Q3

Perez was the first driver out onto the track as the Mexican lined up at the Pit Exit awaiting the final green light of the year. Red Bull’s pit wall warned Perez not to hold up his Dutch teammate on their out laps prior to their initial flying laps of Q3.

Verstappen put in a blistering lap of 1:22.109 to put him on provisional pole position, helped by teamwork from his Mexican teammate. Hamilton could only manage 1:22.660, 0.551 seconds slower than his title-rival.

Despite Hamilton’s best efforts he couldn’t stop Verstappen from securing pole position but the seven-time world champion managed to retain a front row start for tomorrow’s grand prix.

However, Norris stopped both Red Bull and Mercedes from securing a P3 start as the young Briton secured the third grid slot.

Top 10:

10. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren

9. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

8. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

7. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

6. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes

5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

4. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

3. Lando Norris, McLaren

2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

That’s it for the article: F1 Abu Dhabi Qualifying: Max Verstappen on pole in title decider! With the grid set, who do you think will win the championship tomorrow? Let us know in the comments!