Abu Dhabi GP: Verstappen takes final pole from Perez, Leclerc
Max Verstappen took F1 Abu Dhabi GP pole in a Red Bull 1-2 with Sergio Perez second and Charles Leclerc third.
Q1:
The first part in F1 Abu Dhabi GP qualifying saw the Red Bull pair lead the way with Max Verstappen (1m12.754s) heading Sergio Perez, as the Ferrari pair followed with Carlos Sainz ahead of Charles Leclerc to comfortably make it in Q2.
It was a mighty lap through the traffic for Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel to make it in Q2 after ending up sixth. It was close for Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who was struggling in the session as he just made it in Q2 by 0.052s in 15th.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m25.834s) missed it in 16th from AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m25.859s), with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas (1m25.892s) also out in 18th from Williams’ Alexander Albon (1m26.028s) and Nicholas Latifi (1m26.054s).
Q2:
The second part in F1 Abu Dhabi GP qualifying saw Red Bull’s Perez lead the way with a 1m24.419s lap as Mercedes’ Hamilton was second after the team selected an out of position run for both him and Russell, who was fourth in early part.
But the order changed in the final run where Perez maintained the top spot with Leclerc improving to second being 0.098s off with teammate Sainz up to third. Despite the traffic troubles with the Red Bull, Vettel still maintained his pace to be in Q3.
It was a miss for Alpine’s Alonso (1m25.096s) by 0.028s in Q3 with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m25.219s) in 12th from Haas’ Mick Schumacher (1m25.225s), Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m25.359s) and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu (1m25.408s).
Q3:
The final part in F1 Abu Dhabi GP qualifying saw Mercedes doing an out of position run again, as Red Bull’s Verstappen had provisional pole with a 1m23.988s lap as he and Perez in third were separated by Ferrari’s Sainz, while Leclerc was fourth.
Despite a close call, Verstappen actually bettered his previous lap to set a 1m23.824s lap to take F1 Abu Dhabi GP pole from Perez (1m24.052s), who had some help from the Dutchman. Crucially the Mexican was ahead of Leclerc (1m24.092s) who was third from Sainz (1m24.242s).
Hamilton (1m24.508s) looked good but was only fifth from Russell (1m24.511s), with Norris (1m24.769s) taking best of the rest in seventh from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m24.830s), Vettel (1m24.961s) and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m25.045s) in the Top 10.
