Lots at stake in Sunday’s final reason of the season.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates—Saturday’s qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a huge success for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman clocked a 1:23:824 fastest lap to take his third consecutive pole at this circuit, leading a Red Bull 1-2 on the front row with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc taking third.
Max Verstappen: It was a bit up and down qualifying. Started off well, but Q2 was a bit messier. I don’t know why. I couldn’t get the grip together. In Q3, it all felt a bit more normal, but we had a bit of a scare as the car turned off before the first run, so we had to reboot everything.
Verstappen and Perez took the first two qualifying sessions, respectively, as both Red Bulls dominated this circuit known for its fast curves and long straights. Verstappen was never challenged for his 10th career pole, and he is in a perfect situation to win his 15th race of the season.
“Disappointment” was the word of the day for other drivers, including Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen, the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi, Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly, and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. All of those drivers failed to advance to the second session. The second Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda, the Haas of Mick Schumacher, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, and the big surprise of the day, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, all missed on the final run for the pole.
For the rest of the top ten drivers, Carlos Sainz placed fourth in his Ferrari, with the two Mercedes fifth and sixth with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo took seventh and tenth, respectively, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished eighth. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, in his final F1 race, stepped up the pace and took ninth.
On Sunday, Verstappen will also be pulling for his teammate to do well because a strong performance would mean Red Bull claiming #1 and 2 in the Driver’s Championship standings. Going into Sunday’s final race of the year, Sergio Perez is tied with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with 290 season points. “(I’m) very happy that both cars are on the front row because we want to win the race, but we also want to finish second with Checo in the championship,” Verstappen told reporters. “I expect it to be a good battle tomorrow, but at least we have both cars on the front row.”
Sunday’s race will be televised by ESPN2 at 8a U.S. Eastern Time.
