Max Verstappen took the last pole position of the season during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, ahead of title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen dominated Q3, setting two laps fast enough to take his eighth pole of the year, the most of any driver in 2025, with a best time of 1m22.207s. His path was eased by using only used tires in Q2, making him one of three drivers – none of whom drove a McLaren – to have two new sets of soft tires available for Q3.
The Dutchman used them to great effect, taking provisional pole and then doubling up on his final lap with purple times in the first two sectors. It surprised McLaren, which seemed to be the team to beat during training, while Red Bull seemed to struggle with the set-up.
“I think the changes [made after FP3] It definitely helped me feel a little bit better in qualifying,” he said. “In Q3 here the track temperature drops, you can push a bit more, and that’s exactly what we did.
“We found a bit more lap time and of course I’m incredibly happy to finish first. That’s the only thing we can do, that’s the only thing we can control – try to maximize everything we have with the car, and we certainly did that in qualifying.”
The battle for the front row was fought solely between McLaren teammates Norris and Piastri, with the Australian drawing first blood after the first runs with a lead of 0.129 seconds.
A cleaner lap from Norris turned the tables on the final runs, with Piastri’s response lagging just 0.029 seconds behind. But neither could get close to Verstappen, with Norris’s best time being 0.201 seconds slower than the reigning champion.
“Max did well, so congratulations to him,” said Norris. “We did everything we could.
“I think my lap was pretty good. I’m quite happy. Obviously disappointed not to be on pole last weekend, but we just weren’t fast enough today. We’ll have to try to do it tomorrow.”
If the title contenders finish where they should start, Norris will still win the championship and just need a podium to seal the deal, regardless of where others finish.
The last ten polesitters in Yas Marina have won the race.
“The time will come to think about that,” Norris said. “For now I’m disappointed not to be on pole. I still want to try to win tomorrow, so that will be the goal.”
Piastri was happy to have bounced back from a difficult Friday after missing FP1 and ending up off the pace in FP2.
“It was nice to finally get into the rhythm for the weekend,” he said. “To be honest, I think the last lap in Q3 was quite good. There wasn’t much left in it. It promises to be a pretty exciting day tomorrow.”
The Australian suggested that Verstappen would be difficult to beat from pole position.
“We’ll know tomorrow,” he said. “I think Max looked very fast on the long runs this weekend, and he is clearly very fast over one lap. Let’s see how much pace is a factor tomorrow.”
George Russell was sloppy on his way to fourth, 0.438 seconds off his pace. He was less than 0.1 seconds faster than Charles Leclerc, who was surprised to catch Q3 in his unruly Ferrari.
Fernando Alonso finished sixth for Aston Martin, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, who finished the season 12-11 ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg for qualifying.
Esteban Ocon finished eighth in just his third Q3 appearance of the year and his first since Monaco in May.
Isack Hadjar qualified ninth in his 16th Q3 appearance, the most of any midfield driver and more than both Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda among the front runners.
Tsunoda, making only his seventh Q3 appearance for Red Bull Racing and his first since Azerbaijan in September, qualified 10th with no time after being deployed to slipstream Verstappen during the opening runs. The team seemed to try to come up with the same scenario for Verstappen’s second lap, but it didn’t work.
Oliver Bearman missed Q3 by just 0.007 seconds and will start the race eleventh, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson.
Kimi Antonelli was frustrated when he was eliminated in fourteenth. The Italian rookie complained of a lack of grip during his final run, which left him faster than only Lance Stroll in fifteenth.
Lewis Hamilton suffered a third successive Q1 knockout in the final qualifying session in a torrid final chapter of his first Ferrari campaign.
Hamilton’s car was ready for the start of Q1 after repairs following his FP3 crash, and the Briton reported good feelings from the cockpit during a short shakedown with medium tires to verify the work. But the Briton couldn’t string together a competitive lap at the end of Q1 as the track improved rapidly and a shabby final sector saw him eliminated in 16th place, just 0.008 seconds away from a place in the next segment.
Alex Albon was eliminated 17th for Williams, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, whose laps at the back of the pack were representative, despite several laps between them being deleted for exceeding track limits.
RESULTS
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