Qualifying – Abu Dhabi: Pierre Gasly unstoppable

During this session, Pierre Gasly left no hope for his rivals. Right from the first round of laps, he grabbed the best time ahead of his main competitors, before returning to the pits for the traditional tire change.

When the wild beasts returned to the track, the Dams driver’s time remained out of reach for his rivals since his teammate Alex Lynn could only reclaim second place, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne. Nevertheless, the McLaren protégé quickly regained his position. The three drivers then felt they couldn’t do better and decided not to launch into a final attempt in the last minute of the session.

On the other hand, Mitch Evans chose to stay on track until the last moment, which proved fruitful as he managed to snatch third place from Alex Lynn. Alexander Rossi attempted the same strategy but with less success due to a tire lock-up in the first sector. The American then had to settle for a final seventh place.

The battle for the third place in the championship promises to be intense until the end as Rio Haryanto was able to clock a better time (6th) than his rival Sergey Sirotkin (12th).

From our special correspondent in Abu Dhabi