Max Verstappen has beat Charles Leclerc by a tenth and a half to take pole for the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Dutchman bounced back following a set up change after struggling in practice to his record-breaking form beating Leclerc as well as top all three parts of qualifying.
While it was relatively straightforward in the end, the uncertainty felt in the Red Bull garage ahead of the session was made clear as team principal Christian Horner revealed over team radio that he had won €500 from team advisor Dr Helmut Marko by betting Verstappen would merely make the front row.
Verstappen appeared to put the difficult practice behind him, as he has done so many times this season threw down the gauntlet in qualifying, fastest in Q1 and Q2. That dispelled the hopes of a challenge from Ferrari and Mercedes challenging for pole.
When it came to the top ten shootout he was on it, his first attempt saw him go four-tenths faster, but that was on new tyres.
Leclerc was two tenths faster than the McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who looked to be a serious threat to challenge Verstappen for pole. The Ferrari driver had taken pole at three of the last four races, with Verstappen looking to be on the back foot having struggled through the three practice sessions, complaining of his car bottoming and bouncing, and suffering from a lack of front grip on Friday and lack of rear on Saturday.
Leclerc’s lap was very similar to the ones he had put in at three of the last four Grands Prix qualifying’s, but while it was another brilliant lap it was not enough to take pole. Beating Verstappen this season has required something special, but the Monacan imply didn’t have the pace to match Verstappen. That meant the Dutchman’s failure to improve on his second run proved irrelevant, with a career-best twelfth pole of the season secured.
Ferrari and Mercedes are currently separated by four points in the battle for second in the constructors. While Leclerc and George Russell made it through to Q3 Carlos Sainz was knocked out in Q1 and Lewis Hamilton in Q2.
Piastri rounding out his impressive rookie season with third as he went four-thousandths of a second faster than Russell. The Australian’s teammate Lando Norris appeared to be a threat for pole, the Englishman had gone fastest in the first sector with Verstappen not improving on his final lap, leaving the door open.
However, a sideways moment for the McLaren driver through the hotel section (Turn Thirteen) cost him four-tenths in the last sector meaning he didn’t improve going fifth. That then opened the door for Norris and Russell to improve, leading to Piastri being pushed from third to fifth.
Norris clearly felt that pressure and a mistake in the final sector cost him several places, with the Brit saying after the session that he had “thrown away” a pole opportunity. Piastri took the advantage and while he was under investigation for impeding Pierre Gasly, no further action was taken as they decided it did not impact the Frenchman’s lap.
Piastri had been the slower McLaren driver all weekend but Norris’ error allowed the Australian to sneak ahead for a strong result at the end of an impressive rookie season.
Verstappen said, “Very weird. The whole weekend so far has been a bit of a struggle. We definitely improved the car for qualifying and from lap one it all seemed a bit more together and we could definitely push more. So of course very happy to be on pole.”
Leclerc added “It was a bit of a surprise because, honestly, considering the weekend we’ve had until now, I did not expect it at all. The last lap, I knew I had to put everything together. I did the last corner there was a bit too much sliding but I think everybody had that.”
The Dutchman favourite for a third consecutive win in Abu Dhabi and to set a new record of nineteen wins in a season the most dominant F1 season by any driver in the sports history.
Yuki Tsunoda put his Alpha Tauri sixth going a tenth and a half behind Norris and ahead of Fernando Alonso by a tenth, and Nico Hulkenberg was eighth. Sergio Perez’s last lap had put him fifth behind Russell, but his fastest time was deleted for breaching track limits. That left the Mexican six hundredths behind his former teammate Hulkenberg and ahead of Gasly by four-tenths.
Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri, ahead of Alonso for Aston Martin, whose hopes of closing an eleven-point gap to fourth-placed McLaren in the constructors’ standings appear to be all but over.
Hamilton was fastest of those knocked out in Q2, the seven-time champion missing out by seven hundredths after teammate Russell made a late improvement pushing the seven-time champion out of qualifying. But Hamilton appeared unhappy with his Mercedes complaining on his way back to the garage “There’s something wrong with this car.”
Hamilton had been off the pace of his team-mate Russell throughout the weekend and couldn’t summon any notable improvement for qualifying. The seven-time world champion, who ends the season with an 11-11 qualifying head-to-head with Russell, complained that something had to be “wrong” with his troublesome W14.
Hamilton splits the two Alpine’s as he was just over three hundredths faster than Esteban Ocon. Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin thirteenth going a hundredth and a half quicker than Alex Albon with Daniel Ricciardo slowest in Q2, the Alpha Tauri driver four thousandths behind the Williams.
Carlos Sainz came into the weekend following a difficult weekend in Vegas, but what difficulties he had last weekend didn’t stay in Vegas. The Ferrari driver was fastest of those knocked out in Q1, Sainz saying that he had been caught out by traffic on his final lap.
Sainz was three hundredths faster than Kevin Magnussen and the two Alfa Romeo’s. all four drivers had complained about being caught in traffic on the final attempt. Valtteri Bottas was four tenths faster Guanyu Zhou. Logan Sargeant didn’t set a time both his times being deleted after he breeched track limits.
Related
- ABU DHABI GP – George Russell fastest in third practice a tenth ahead of Lando Norris
- ABU DHABI GP – Charles Leclerc fastest by four hundredths in a heavily disrupted second practice
- ABU DHABI GP – George Russell fastest by two-tenths as several young drivers take to track in first practice
- Welcome to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – 2023
- PRIXVIEW – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
