Shop
Max Verstappen has secured pole position and Oscar Piastri third for Sunday’s season-ending Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Verstappen recovered from a troubled start to the weekend to secure top spot while Piastri adopted his trademark gradual approach to deliver a strong final lap.
Charles Leclerc will start from second while Daniel Ricciardo could do no better than 15th – one place better than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
The session began with a flurry of track action, Logan Sargeant the first to record a lap time, only for it to be scratched for track limits at Turn 1.
Nico Hulkenberg too had his first time deleted after he exceeded the bounds of the circuit at Turn 16.
Verstappen was the early pacesetter, logging a 1:24.160s to top proceedings by 0.2s over Lando Norris.
Leclerc slotted in third with his first lap, bumping Alex Albon down to fourth.
A 1:24.929s from George Russell left the Mercedes driver only ninth with his first lap, one spot behind Ricciardo who’d managed a 1:24.840s in his Scuderia AlphaTauri.
Lewis Hamilton also had a steady first flying lap to sit just 13th, while Piastri was 11th.
A lull followed the initial flurry before Williams sent both Albon and Sargeant out ahead of the remainder of the pack.
Sargeant flew through the first third of the lap, recording the fastest split of the session and building on that at the second split with a personal best.
He managed a 1:24.532s, good enough for fourth, had the time not been deleted for another track limits breach at Turn 1.
The American had time to go again, though opted instead to pit to confirm his fate: a Q3 elimination without setting a time.
Menawhile, Hamilton delivered a stunning final sector to rise to fifth, though that was quickly bumped as others improved.
Qualifying 1 ended with Verstappen fastest from Perez, while joining Sargeant on the sidelines were Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, and Zhou Guanyu.
A slow start to Qualifying 2 saw Albon first to start a timed lap with 12 minutes remaining on the clock.
The Williams driver recorded a 1:24.965s, slower than he’d gone in Qualifying 1.
Unsurprisingly, others quickly bettered it, with Russell logging a 1:24.460s to take over at the top of the timesheets.
However, that lasted only until Verstappen completed his lap, a 1:23.740s to sit comfortably clear of the chasing pack.
Norris showed well, going fastest of anyone to the first split but lost time through the middle third of the lap.
The McLaren driver wound up second best, just under 0.2s off the pace of Verstappen, with Sergio Perez third and Piastri fourth.
Again running out of sequence, Williams sent Albon out such that he had the track to himself for his second run.
That resulted in a 1:24.439s, which lifted him to fifth as the remainder of the field headed back out.
The timing screens lit up with personal bests, the order again changing rapidly as they completed their laps.
Charles Leclerc rose to third while Daniel Ricciardo, having been comfortably inside the top 10, was bumped out of it to end the session 15th.
His Scuderia AlphaTauri team-mate was eighth, just 0.2s faster.
Hamilton also missed the cut, along with Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, and Albon.
Verstappen remained top, with Norris second, while Russell was fourth. Piastri progressed by just under 0.1s in 10th.
Verstappen was first on track as Qualifying 3 began, heading Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg as only Russell and Pierre Gasly remained in the sheds.
Both had staggered their entries into the session by some two minutes to the bulk of the field, which saw the Mercedes driver move aside for the champion-elect at the hairpin.
The Dutchman mustered a 1:23.445s with his first lap, which for a time looked vulnerable to Norris.
However, the McLaren driver couldn’t match the Red Bull through the middle of the lap, and ended up 0.371s slower by its conclusion to sit second.
Then came Piastri from Perez, while Tsunoda was fifth fastest ahead of Hulkenberg.
Out of sequence, Russell slotted in behind Piastri with a 1:24.152s as Gasly could do not better than 10th.
With four minutes remaining, the field in unison looked headed back out of the pits – much to the consternation of Verstappen, who found himself towards the back of the queue.
At the front were the two McLarens, Norris ahead of Piastri, while Gasly and Russell again kept their powder dry longer than most.
Norris started his final flying lap with two minutes remaining, and promptly went fastest of anyone to the first split.
He dropped time again through the middle of the lap, though less than before, but a wild slide in the final third meant he failed to improve.
Behind him, Piastri did, rising to second with a 1:23.782s which became third when Leclerc managed a 1:23.584s.
Verstappen remained fastest, with Russell fourth from Norris, Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez – who had his final lap time deleted – and Gasly.
