The final race of the season in Formula 1 will be held in Abu Dhabi this weekend and all eyes are on today’s qualifying. The general expectation was that Abu Dhabi, with its renewed structure, would fit Mercedes.
However, Max Verstappen had a strong lap in qualifying and took pole position 0.3 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen will start the race from the first row with Hamilton next to him.
Verstappen will start the race on soft tyres, while Hamilton will start on medium compound.
The race will be held at 16:00 on Sunday.
Race grid:
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Episode three – Q3: Verstappen’s final pole position of the season!
In the final part of qualifying, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren drivers, as well as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda remained.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took the air lane from Sergio Perez on his first try and made 1:22.109 and took first place.
Lewis Hamilton was 0.551 seconds slower than Verstappen’s lap after the first laps. Sergio Perez was third, 0.859 seconds behind.
All eyes were on the final moments of qualifying, and Hamilton remained behind Verstappen despite improving his time on the final lap.
Although Verstappen failed to improve in the last time lap, he took the pole position.
The Dutch driver beat Hamilton’s lap by 0.371 seconds, thus making Verstappen his 10th pole position this year.
Hamilton improved his time on the final lap, but was slower than Verstappen to finish second.
Verstappen will start the race on the soft tyre, while Hamilton will start on the medium tyre.
The surprise name of the session, Lando Norris, finished third with 0.822 seconds after scoring 1:22,931.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was fourth, just 0.016 seconds behind Norris, while Carlos Sainz was fifth and Valtteri Bottas, who failed to complete a clean lap, was sixth with 0.927 seconds.
Charles Leclerc was moved to Sainz in the final qualifying laps of the year and finished seventh. Yuki Tsunoda was eighth after the first time lap wipe, while Esteban Ocon was ninth and Daniel Ricciardo 10th.
The result of the third part:
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Part two – Q2: Verstappen is the leader, Red Bull will start the race on soft tires
In the second episode, in addition to Mercedes, Red Bull, AlphaTauri drivers, Lando Norris and Antonio Giovinazzi decided to start their first lap with medium compound, thus starting the race with these tires.
Hamilton scored 1:23.185 on the first lap using medium dough and topped the timetable. Max Verstappen followed just 0.004 seconds behind him. But Verstappen also suffered a major blockage with that set of tires. This resulted in a large burnt spot on the left front tire.
On the soft tyre, Carlos Sainz made 1:23,174 and took first place.
Hamilton came on the track with a new set of middle dough in the final moments and took the first place with a time of 1:23.145. Perez then took first place with a time of 1:23.135 on the soft tyre.
In the final moments, Max Verstappen finished 1:22.800 on the soft tyres, beating both Perez and Hamilton to lead the session.
Thus, both first Verstappen and second place Perez will start the race with soft dough. Hamilton’s lap on the middle tire was 0.345 seconds behind and finished third. The British pilot will start the race with medium dough.
In the final moments of the final episode, when drivers slowed down in the last sector to avoid traffic, Vettel pulled over in anger and stopped.
Fernando Alonso finished 11th in the final moments as Daniel Ricciardo slowed him down. Thus, Ocon and Alonso finished the year 11-11 in qualifying.
Pierre Gasly, who passed Yuki Tsunoda in all qualifying rounds this year, placed 12th after his mistakes in the second division, and Tsunoda was passed for the first time this year.
Lance Stroll was 13th, while Antonio Giovinazzi was 14th and Vettel, who stood before the final time lap, was 15th.
Hamilton, Bottas and Tsunoda will start the race with medium dough. Other names will start with soft rubber.
Second part result:
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Part one – Q1: Hamilton fastest, Russell overtaken by Latifi for the second time
The final qualifying of the season took place today in Abu Dhabi and the track temperature in the first episode was 10 degrees cooler than in the 3rd practice session.
Everyone, except the Ferrari drivers, started the time laps with soft dough at the beginning. Other names chose medium dough. But as their rank was slow, they chose the soft rubber in the final episode.
After the first laps, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was in the lead with 1:23,266 and Max Verstappen was second behind 0.056 seconds.
Going into the final 7 minutes, Mick Schumacher hit a bollard on the final corner and dragged it onto the track. Lando Norris coming from behind also crushed it. Due to this dangerous situation, the session was stopped red flag.
After the session restarted, the drivers tried to take another time lap.
Hamilton finished 1:22,845 in the final episode and led the session as the only player to go below 1:23.
Bottas was second behind 0.272 seconds, Verstappen was third with 0.477 seconds and Sergio Perez was fourth with 0.505 seconds.
In Williams, Nicholas Latifi was eliminated in this episode by being 16th, while George Russell, who participated in the last qualifying rounds with Williams, was passed to Latifi for the second time in the last two years and finished 17th.
Kimi Raikkonen was 0.4 seconds slower than Russell in the final qualifying laps of his career and finished 18th.
Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin took the last two places. Thus, Schumacher defeated Mazepin in all qualifying rounds he participated in this year.
First part result:
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