Max Verstappen took the final pole position of the Formula 1 season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz failed to make the top-10 shootout.
Top spot was a marked rebound from Verstappen’s problematic final practice session earlier in the day, in which he was significantly off the pace and demanded several incremental setup changes that appeared to leave him no closer to a competitive car configuration. But tweaks made ahead of qualifying paid dividends. Verstappen set the quickest time in all three qualifying segments and needed only one lap in Q3 to take top spot comfortably with a time of 1m 23.445s.
Despite failing to improve with his second lap, his first was good enough to secure his 12th pole of the season.
“Very weird,” he said of the recovery. “The whole weekend so far has been a bit of a struggle.
“We definitely improved the car from qualifying. From lap 1 it all seemed a bit more together and we could definitely push more. I’m very happy to be on pole.”
It left the Dutchman somewhat more optimistic about closing off the season with a 19th victory for the year.
“I have no clue how good we’re going to be in the race,” he said. “Normally we’re quite decent.”
Leclerc was similarly shocked to qualify so well, having struggled for consistency all weekend and having also failed to put together a competitive lap in the practice hour preceding qualifying.
“Considering the weekend we’ve had until now, I did not expect it at all,” he said of his ninth front row of the year. “I’m really, really happy with the second place. Q1 and Q2 I was worried [about] going through. At the end, a front row, it’s amazing.”
Oscar Piastri briefly held a position on the front row, but his 0.337s margin demoted him to third by the end of the session, the best grand prix qualifying result of his career. But the Australian said there would have been more on the table with a cleaner session.
“It’s extremely tight this weekend,” he said. “The pace has been there, but just a lot of mistakes. On the last lap I made a little bit of a mistake as well.
“But I’m happy with that. The car is very quick this weekend, a nice turnaround from Vegas for us. Happy to be back in the top three.”
However, Piastri will see the stewards after the session for allegedly impeding Pierre Gasly in Q3, potentially putting his second-row start at risk.
George Russell came close to overhauling Piastri for the place on pace, but the Mercedes driver fell just 0.006s short.
Leclerc and Russell will lead the battle for Ferrari and Mercedes over second in the constructors’ championship, with their respective teammates, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, both failing to make the top 10 in separate qualifying fumbles. Sainz blamed traffic and his run plan for being knocked out in 16th, while Hamilton lamented a possible car problem that left him 11th.
“There’s something not right with this car, man,” Hamilton radioed after his knockout was confirmed, the Briton having been unhappy with his Mercedes car all weekend, a situation perhaps not helped by having to give up FP1 to Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti.
Lando Norris qualified fifth but likely would have been higher had it not been for a snap of oversteer underneath the hotel in the final sector on his last lap, leaving him ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso and an on-form Nico Hulkenberg.
Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly qualified ninth and 10th after having had their fastest times deleted for exceeding track limits. Perez’s final lap would have been quick enough for sixth, but Gasly failed to set a time quick enough to climb out of 10th.
Hamilton will line up 11th after missing out on Q1 progression by just 0.081s, albeit 0.346s slower than teammate Russell.
Esteban Ocon qualified 12th ahead of Lance Stroll, Alex Albon — the Williams driver having completed a qualifying clean sweep against rookie teammate Logan Sargeant, beating him in all 22 grand prix qualifying sessions as well as all six sprint shootouts — and Daniel Ricciardo in places 13 to 15.
Sainz was the shock Q1 elimination in 16th, the Spaniard pinning his lowly knockout on traffic on his final lap. His middle sector in particular left much to be desired, and in a super-tight session he was only 0.578s off the pace but will start in the bottom five.
Kevin Magnussen will line up 17th for Haas ahead of teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu for Sauber’s final race under the Alfa Romeo brand.
Under-pressure Williams rookie Sargeant will start last after having two competitive laps deleted for exceeding track limits at the first turn. His final flying lap would have been quick enough to sneak through in 14th had he kept off the exit curb.
