Abu Dhabi GP: Verstappen’s dominant return to pole position

In the qualifying tests, where Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz was eliminated in Q1, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in Q2 and Sergio Perez in Q3 due to a fault with the track limits, Verstappen dominated all three sessions and managed to secure two new sets of soft tires to save the crucial test third period.

The soft rubber only lasted one fast lap during the qualifying tests in Abu Dhabi, so the drivers each made two attempts at their classic in the third quarter. On their first attempt, Verstappen reduced the time to 1:23.445 by using the first of his two available sets of soft rubber. Norris followed him with a used set of rubber 0.18 inches, while Leclerc was a second behind, also with flat tires.

At the second attempt, Lando Norris chased after pole position with ambitions, but a spectacular sideways slide in the McLaren – which he controlled masterfully – cost him far too much time.

So Norris got stuck with the time of his first attempt (on the used tire) and initially fell fatally behind Oscar Piatri and then Leclerc and Russell, who significantly improved the times on the first laps in the second attempt with the fresh tires.

Verstappen didn’t improve his time on his second attempt in Q3, but it didn’t pay off: Leclerc got quite close to him, but not by less than a tenth of a second – a result that was ultimately good for Monegasque and the Scuderia. as the lack of speed at the end of their first attempt could not be explained.

While Perez was demoted to 9th place due to exceeding the track limit in the first corner, Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda finished an impressive 6th place ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.

All of this was preceded by the disqualification of Carlos Sainz in Q1 and Lewis Hamilton in Q2. The Ferrari Spaniard, who appeared to be struggling with yesterday’s accident in FP2, ran into traffic on his final fast lap – where he was last to exit – and was demoted to 16th.

As for Hamilton, he didn’t encounter any traffic, but as he turned into the pits he said, “There’s something wrong with the car.” Undoubtedly, the seven-time champion didn’t get the setup and warming up the tires as good as Russell .

As in Q3, Verstappen also scored points in Q2 and Q1 in the first year, and in the first third Sergio Perez was behind him in second place. It was the Mexican who ultimately got the better of Saint, while Williams’ Logan Sargeant would have qualified had not both of his fast laps been canceled for exceeding track limits.

Finally, Gasli and Piastri were asked by the stewards to investigate a possible incident of on-track interference at the end of qualifying. The Abu Dhabi GP, the 22nd and final F1 race of the year, starts tomorrow Sunday (November 26th) at 3:00 p.m.