In what was the last qualifying session of the Formula 1 season, Max Verstappen once again took pole position. The Red Bull driver was dominant on Saturday at the Yas Marina circuit, highlighting his favoritism to end the year with another victory tomorrow.
Qualifying summary
Right from Q1, there was a feeling that Red Bull might have something more than their opponents: Verstappen was the fastest, 49 milliseconds ahead of teammate Sergio Pérez. The surprises came from Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and Alexander Albon (Williams), who finished third and fourth, respectively.
A shock for Ferrari in the title fight. Carlos Sainz has not found the right path since yesterday’s accident in the second free practice: he was 20th in this morning’s FP3 and in qualifying he could only manage a modest 16th time, being eliminated in Q1. He missed out on qualification by 0.138s, with Pierre Gasly (Alpine) finishing 15th.
Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and the Alfa Romeo drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, were also eliminated, as well as Logan Sargeant. The Williams driver had all of his timed laps canceled due to track limit violations, finishing 20th without any recorded time.
Taking a risk on a single attempt, Verstappen was the fastest in Q2, beating Lando Norris (McLaren) by 0.180s. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) showed that he could be in the fight for the front rows with his third fastest time ahead of George Russell (Mercedes).
If #63 had some reasons to be encouraged, the same cannot be said for his teammate Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion struggled again and failed to reach Q3, finishing 11th by only 81 milliseconds – with Oscar Piastri (McLaren) being the last to make it into the top ten.
The other eliminated drivers were not out of the ordinary: between 12th and 15th, Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Albon, and Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri) finished in that order.
It was on his first attempt in Q3 that Verstappen set the pole position time: 1m23.445s. The Dutchman was clearly ahead of the competition, but he couldn’t do better on his second outing, hindered by his position in the pack.
The competition closed in on the three-time world champion, with Leclerc being the closest rival: he secured second place on the grid, 0.139s slower. Piastri took McLaren to third place, ahead of Russell and Norris. The biggest surprise was Tsunoda’s sixth position.
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) managed to secure seventh place ahead of Nico Hülkenberg (Haas). Pérez struggled and could only manage ninth, ahead of Gasly.
Results:
