Max Verstappen achieved pole position in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri next up in a tense qualifying session.
The top three championship contenders are 1-2-3 on the grid for the season finale. It will be interesting come race day as one of these drivers will be the 2025 Formula 1 world champion.
With the pressure of on title battle, Verstappen showed his experience as Lando’s nerves was starting to affective throughout the progression of the session. On his opening Q3 lap, Verstappen posted a time of one minute, 22.295 seconds, a lap that would have been good enough for pole on its own.
The Papayas, who opened the final stage of qualifying with marginally used soft tyres – carried over from their final aborted Q2 laps – were some way off, as Piastri was just over a tenth clear of Norris ahead of the final runs.
Norris found some improvement on new softs, posting a time of one minute, 22.408 seconds on his second run. Piastri’s effort was a touch slower, giving the championship leader the upper hand on the grid. Meanwhile, Verstappen found 0.09 seconds of improvement and achieved pole position, with the championship contenders all in close situation for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
George Russell clinched fourth on the grid, despite moments of oversteer on both laps. In his opening run, Russell had a slide at Turn 14 and lost time, and then a tank-slapper at Turn 16 on his final effort.
Charles Leclerc was fifth, although admitted over the team radio that it was a “surprise” that he had made it through Q2 – noting that he was on the edge of aborting his lap “like five times” due to the Ferrari’s handling.
Fernando Alonso outqualified Gabriel Bortoleto, who jumped his way into a fifth Q3 appearance of the year, while Esteban Ocon finally found a good braking balance in qualifying and worked his way to eighth on the grid. Isack Hadjar was ninth, while Yuki Tsunoda will line up P10 having been use to give Verstappen a slipstream on his laps.
Despite impressive pace throughout the weekend, Oliver Bearman was unable to repeat it in Q2 and drop just 0.007 seconds outside of the cut-off to make it into the final stage of qualifying. Despite this, Bearman’s late lap carried him up to P11, placing him above Carlos Sainz in the order.
Sainz showed flashes of speed throughout the opening sector, but was unable to keep the lap together and was just 0.001 seconds behind Bearman’s effort.
Liam Lawson dropped out of the top ten by teammate Hadjar, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was a surprise contender from Q3 as the Mercedes driver struggled to tame his rear end through the final sector. Lance Stroll also fell out in Q2 and will start P15.
Lewis Hamilton dropped out of Q1 for the third successive race, as he sat on the edge of elimination before Bortoleto found enough improvement to leap into Q2. The Sauber driver’s lap, good enough for P14 in that session, put Hamilton among the bottom five.
Alexander Albon was up to seventh after his final lap of the session, but quick improvement across the field forced the Williams driver into a descent down the timing order. The slide stopped when he was down in P17, and already in the pits at the close of the session.
Bortoleto outqualified Nico Hulkenberg to ensure their qualifying head-to-head ends level at 12-12, as the Sauber driver was unable to deliver the team’s promising pace in practice to finish the session P18, ahead of the two Alpines. Pierre Gasly was 0.4 seconds clear of Franco Colapinto, who had two laps deleted in the session for track limits.
So congratulations to Max Verstauen by taking his eighth pole position of the season. It will be fascinating if the defending champion can win the race and use luck to affected the McLaren to win his fifth title. As for Lando Norris, starting a front row is a bonus. Just need to finish in P3 or higher to take the championship.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:22.207
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:22.408
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:22.437
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:22.645
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:22.730
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:22.902
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:22.904
8 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:22.913
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:23.072
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:23.083
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:23.041
12 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:23.042
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:23.077
14 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:23.080
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:23.097
16 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:23.394
17 Alexander Albon Williams 1:23.416
18 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:23.450
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:23.468
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:23.890