Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Qualifying: Verstappen calms the German pack

The sun sets in Abu Dhabi to welcome this final qualifying practice session of the season.

The stakes are minor for some but major for others, with the battle in the driver and constructor championships standings raging on. This is the case for Renault and McLaren in particular, who are fighting for 4th place, or even 3rd in case of a poor performance by Racing Point.

Q1: Hamilton plays with the limits

All the drivers logically start on soft tires.

Uncommon occurrence worth highlighting, Alexander Albon outperformed his teammate by six-tenths during the first timed run. The Dutchman showed an unusually low performance, later explained by the fact that he got his hand caught while turning at the hairpin of the circuit.

Bottas remains the only Mercedes benchmark with 1:35.699, 8 minutes from the end, after Hamilton’s time was canceled for exceeding track limits and bouncing on the curb serving as a boundary.

The seven-time World Champion then completes a validated lap but finishes in 7th place, nearly a second behind the Finn.

5 minutes before the end of the session, the Haas cars are alongside the Williams in the elimination zone, accompanied by Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo, which has only completed 3 laps.

Verstappen catches up to his mistake and closes in on Valterri Bottas to within 0.2 seconds.

Lando Norris secures a strong 3rd place at the end of Q1 while Giovinazzi, finally on track, eliminates his teammate.

Spin for Latifi during the acceleration phase ahead of his final flying lap. He finishes last.

Eliminated: Latifi, Fittipaldi, Russell, Magnussen, Räikkönen

Q2: Leclerc’s performance, Renault OUT

A majority of drivers opt for medium tires to try to make it to Q3, except for Norris, Stroll, Gasly, Kvyat, and Giovinazzi.

First reference for Hamilton in 1:35.466, beating his teammate at 1:35.527 and Norris.

No time for Albon and Ricciardo with 6 minutes remaining in the session. The times of the two drivers were canceled due to track limits. Sergio Perez is just coming out of the pits for an attempt. Let’s remember that the Mexican driver was penalized for changing engine parts and will start from the last row in the race.

The drivers apart from Verstappen and Leclerc go out on soft tires for one last attempt.

Superb time by Leclerc on medium tires with 1:35.932, securing his passage to Q3.

His teammate is eliminated, just like the two Renaults which had performed well in FP3. The drivers of the diamond brand exceeded the track limits. Giovinazzi and Perez accompany them. The Renault drivers will therefore be able to choose their tires for the start. Pierre Gasly barely qualifies for Q3, finishing 10th.

Eliminated: Perez, Giovinazzi, Vettel, Ricciardo, Ocon

Q3: Verstappen calms the Mercedes pack

All on softs for this final qualifying session.

First lap launched and Bottas sets the benchmark time at 1:35.415 ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton. Albon is 4th and concludes a top 4 separated by only 0.15 seconds.

Following behind are the McLarens with Sainz and Norris, Stroll, Leclerc, and the Toro Rossos of Kvyat and Gasly.

Last qualifying round of the season in sight and as usual on this Yas Marina circuit, the Mercedes seem unbeatable. Let us remember that they have been undefeated here for the past 6 seasons in qualifying.

Bottas manages to take the upper hand on his teammate and secures pole position before Verstappen delivers an incredible lap in 1:35.246, 35 thousandths ahead of Bottas.

Norris is 4th and Gasly 10th.