Verstappen qualifies on pole ahead of Leclerc at Abu Dhabi GP

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured his 12th pole position of the year as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri round out the top three during qualifying in Abu Dhabi.

Q1

When the pit exit light turned green, to start the final qualifying session of the season,  no one was eager to pull out into the pit lane under the Abu Dhabi night sky. After three and a half minutes, Williams’ Logan Sargeant was the first car to be released out into the pit lane. As the first driver out, this ignited a chain reaction down the pit lane as a number of cars pulled into the fast lane.

Naturally, Sargeant was the first driver to set a lap time on the board but this was soon beaten – inevitably – by Verstappen with a 1:24.160. Sargeant’s time was soon deleted for track limits at turn one. A couple of drivers joined Sargeant with lap times deleted which included the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg and Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou.

Of the banker laps, Verstappen stood at the top of the timing boards with his best lap time followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who were three-tenths behind Verstappen. At the other end of the table, Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) sat in the elimination zone in 16th and 17th respectively, ahead of those who had their lap times deleted.

Four minutes left on the clock and the majority of the field returned to the circuit for their final runs of Q1 whilst Sargeant went fourth fastest, as he headed out earlier. However, his lap time was deleted once more and this meant the American was out of qualifying down in 20th.

In a blow to Ferrari, in their fight with Mercedes for second in the constructors championship, Carlos Sainz found himself out of Q1 after being demoted by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. The Spaniard blamed traffic as the reason for his early exit.

Eliminated:

20. Logan Sargeant, Williams

19. Gunayu Zhou, Alfa Romeo

18. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

17. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

16. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

Q2

Unlike Q1, when the pit exit light returned to green, cars immediately ventured out onto the Yas Marina circuit for Q2, led out by Albon. Understandably, the Williams driver put in the first lap time on the board, but this was soon beaten by both Mercedes before Verstappen stormed his way out in front with a 1:23.740.

On used tyres, Norris joined Verstappen inside the top three, in second, to split the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez in first and third respectively. The McLaren driver sat a tenth behind the Dutchman’s leading time. At the other end of the table, after the banker laps, the drivers in the elimination zone stood as; Daniel Ricciardo (Alpha Tauri), Gasly, Albon, Esteban Ocon and Hulkenberg.

In a similar fashion, Albon was the first back out on track for the remaining laps of Q2 with just over three minutes left to go. The rest of the field was out on the track apart from Verstappen.

Following a shock exit in Q1, Hamilton has joined the elimination list as the seven-time world champion was knocked out by his teammate, George Russell, and will start the race in 11th. The #44 Mercedes was only just 0.081s from safety, occupied by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in 10th.

Eliminated:

15. Daniel Ricciardo, Alpha Tauri

14. Alexander Albon, Williams

13. Lance Stroll, Lance Stroll, 

12. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

11. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Q3

Ahead of the final Q3 session of the year, Verstappen headed the queue as the pack waited for the pit exit light to turn green. Naturally, the triple world champion set the benchmark time with a 1:23.445. Despite everyone’s best efforts, no one was able to meet the benchmark time.

In the banker laps, Verstappen remained on top with his blistering lap and he was joined by both McLarens of Norris and Piastri. Russell sat in fourth to keep Perez at bay from the McLarens as the Red Bull sat fifth. Perez’s position was also a result of a snap of oversteer on the exit of turn one.

In the championship fight for second place, the advantage lay at the feet of Mercedes as Leclerc found himself down as the ninth fastest driver in the top 10, in between both Alonso and Gasly.

Under three minutes remained on the clock and the bulk of the drivers were out on the circuit, only Russell and Gasly remained in their respective garages. However, with just over two minutes remaining, all of the drivers were out on track.

Despite the best efforts of the remaining nine drivers, no one was able to topple Verstappen from the top spot, Leclerc and Piastri rounded out the top three. Perez did find himself higher up the order, but his best lap time was soon deleted for exceeding track limits.

Top 10:

10. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

9. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

8. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

7. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

6. Yuki Tsuonda, Alpha Tauri

5. Lando Norris, McLaren

4. George Russell, Mercedes

3. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

That’s all for the article; Verstappen qualifies on pole ahead of Leclerc at Abu Dhabi GP!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Russell tops final F1 practice session of season in Abu Dhabi
• The race REDEEMED the Las Vegas Grand Prix
• Las Vegas GP: Verstappen secures win as Perez cements second place in championship
• Leclerc on pole of Las Vegas GP ahead of Sainz and Verstappen
• Russell leads Piastri and Sargeant in FP3 of Las Vegas GP
• Leclerc tops Las Vegas GP FP2 as fans are kicked out

Give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the latest news from the world of Motorsport! You can also support us on Patreon or on our website!