Max Verstappen will start ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after clinching a vital pole position for Sunday’s race.
Verstappen and Hamilton are level on points heading into the crucial title-decider at the Yas Marina Circuit and the Red Bull driver claimed an early advantage as he beat the Mercedes by 0.371 seconds in Saturday’s qualifying session.
In a dramatic twist, Verstappen suffered a flat-spot to his medium tyres in Q2, forcing Red Bull to switch his starting set to softs ahead of tomorrow’s race. The 24-year-old will start on the faster set of tyres while Hamilton, who joined him on the front row, will be on the mediums, which should give him the edge over the long run.
Verstappen overturned Hamilton’s early pace as he benefitted from a tow from teammate Sergio Perez with a lighting time of 1:22.109 seconds, leaving Hamilton almost a half a second away from pole. The seven-time world champion cut the gap with his final flying lap but it wasn’t enough.
McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed a surprise P3, with Perez in fourth. Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas could only manage P6.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Verstappen said. “We definitely improved the car in qualifying, we got what we wanted. I’m just looking forward to tomorrow, that’s the most important. I felt good on both tyres, so we’ll see.”
“Max did a great lap today, we just couldn’t compete with that time at the end there,” Hamilton added. “We couldn’t answer to that lap, but we’re in a good position with our tyres tomorrow. The last lap was nice and clean, I just couldn’t go any quicker.”
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying results
1) Max Verstappen - Red Bull
2) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
3) Lando Norris - McLaren
4) Sergio Perez - Red Bull
5) Carlos Sainz - Ferrari
6) Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes
7) Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
8) Yuki Tsunoda - AlphaTauri
9) Esteban Ocon - Alpine
10) Daniel Ricciardo - McLaren
11) Fernando Alonso - Alpine
12) Pierre Gasly - AlphaTauri
13) Lance Stroll - Aston Martin
14) Antonio Giovinazzi - Alfa Romeo
15) Sebastian Vettel - Aston Martin
16) Nicolas Latifi - Williams
17) George Russell - Williams
18) Kimi Raikkonen - Alfa Romeo
19) Mick Schumacher - Haas
20) Nikita Mazepin - Haas
