Max Verstappen will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole position after setting the fastest lap in today’s qualifying session. Championship leader Lando Norris will sit alongside him on the first row with Piastri and Russell on the second row.
The last qualifying session of the season kicked off at 18:00 local time with the Alpine and Kick Sauber cars taking to the track first. Hamilton also quickly joined the party on a set of medium compound tyres. Leclerc later also joined the track on medium tyres with both Ferrari drivers doing several laps.
When Verstappen came out on track he obivously dropped the competition down the rankings. Alonso came close as well as Norris but Piastri later marginally improved on Verstappen’s lap. Bearman did even better but it was Russell, the fastest man of today’s FP3who ended up fastest.
Meanwhile the Ferrari drivers realised the medium compound tyre wouldn’t get them into Q2. Hamilton immediately returned to the track and went 5th fastest on fresh softs while Leclerc waited, hoping for the track to improve before going out again.
At Alpine things looked troubling with both drivers getting a lap deleted for track limits at Turn 1. This resulted in Colapinto having no time on the board before going back on track just when everybody else did as well. Gasly did have a time but was 19th.
Those second outings saw Norris go fastest, only to be toppled by Piastri moments later by nearly 6 tenths. The Mercedes duo and Verstappen were at that time still completing their second effort. Verstappen made it to second as Antonelli slotted into third. Leclerc went fourth and was easily through while Hamilton got eliminated by 0.008s, yet another qualifying disappointment for Lewis.
As Bortoleto managed to make it through in the dying minute, Hulkenberg failed to improve and was out. This, together with strong performances by Alonso and Stroll saw the German out in Q1 in his 250th race weekend.
The second part of qualifying was kicked off by Verstappen who was waiting at the end of the pitlane for more than a minute to get going. By the time he had completed his flying lap, Piastri had just left the pitlane while Norris was getting ready to get going.
Russell and the McLaren duo all did better than Verstappen’s lap but when the Duthchman completed another flyer on the same set of softs he moved up to second fastest again. A little slipstream provided by Alonso surely helped, the Spaniard in his way back to the pits after going 5th fastest, ahead of Bortoleto, Stroll, Sainz, Ocon and Leclerc.
Leclerc was first to start his second lap, immediately struggling to put the grip down in the exit of Turn 1. However, after this poor first sector it were personal bests in S2 and S3 to move up into 4th, soon improved upon by Bortoleto. Hadjar and Alonso also improved and secured a spot in Q3, leaving Bearman, Sainz, Lawson, Antonelli and Stroll without a spot in the top 10.
Verstappen was again out first in Q3 after having sat out the final minutes of Q2 while everybody else was on track for a second lap. Tsunoda though this time was released ahead of him and provided a bit of slipstream for the Dutchman, important in a qualifying session that has been very tight at the top so far.
Norris was up next, then Piastri, then Russell. As Norris crossed the line he was 4 tenths down on the Red Bull. Piastri did better and ended up at a tenth of Verstappen with Russell only 4th at 6 tenths, behind Leclerc who took provisional 4th.
Verstappen and Red Bull were thankful to Tsunoda with the latter even not setting a time on his first outing. Russell interestingly picked that up and request his team to get him out just behind Verstappen trying to get a tow from him. Clearly Russell knew that an better grid slot for him, perhaps ahead of the McLarens would be beneficial for Verstappen’s championship chances.
As all that unfolded, Norris and Piastri started their own second flying laps. This time with Piastri out first. Piastri improved but it was Norris who took second away with Verstappen finding another tenth to secure pole position. Russell found an improvement and got 4th despite nearly losing his car in the final corner.
Leclerc took 5th with Alonso continuing his strong form at Abu Dhabi with 6th on tomorrow’s grid.