Max Verstappen shrugged off set-up problems with his Red Bull car to blitz to pole position and set up another assault on the record books in Saturday’s hectic qualifying for Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Race live from midnight AEDT!
He also earned his team boss Christian Horner a 500 Euros bonus from a wager with Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko.
The three-time world champion clocked a best lap in one minute and 23.445 seconds to outpace nearest rival Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by a tenth of a second as he stamped his authority on a topsy-turvy session.
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It was his fourth consecutive pole at the Yas Marina Circuit, his record-equalling 12th this season and the 33rd of his career – setting him up perfectly for a record-increasing 19th win of the year on Sunday and the 54th of his career.
He will start as a red-hot favourite to win as the last eight Abu Dhabi Grands Prix have all been won from pole position and he has won a record 11 times from 11 poles this season, beating the previous best of nine set by former champion Nigel Mansell in 1992 and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in 2011.
His 33rd pole pulled him alongside Mansell on the record books while a potential 54th win would pull him one clear of Vettel with whom he currently shares 53 wins.
“Let’s see!” he said. “I have no clue how good we are going to be in the race. We are usually quite decent, but it’s been a very special season and we’ve been enjoying it a lot — and I’m very proud of what we have achieved so far this year.”
He added that he had found the whole weekend a struggle until qualifying began. “We definitely improved the car for qualifying,” he said. “From lap one it all seemed a bit more together and we could definitely push more so, yes, very happy to be on pole.
“Around here, you have little slides it can cost you a lot of lap time and that is what was happening in practice but then, in qualifying, it all was a bit more connected.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took full advantage of a last sector error by team-mate Lando Norris to qualify third ahead of George Russell, who was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Norris and Yuki Tsunoda of Alpha Tauri.
Carlos Sainz failed to make it out of Q1 in the second Ferrari and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was unable to progress from Q2 in his Mercedes and complained that ‘something is wrong with this car’. Hamilton held the record of 12 poles in 2016.
Verstappen’s success, after finishing sixth in the final free practice earlier on Saturday, pleased Red Bull team boss Christian Horner who won a 500 Euros bet with Red Bull consultant advisor Helmut Marko.
“Well done, mate,” said Horner, speaking to Verstappen on team radio during his slow down lap. “You’ve just won me 500 euros off Helmut, which is like getting blood out of a stone… So, fantastic job!”
“What, Helmut lost a bet?” said Verstappen. “What world are we living in?”
“Exactly, the bet was for you to be on the front row,” Horner replied.
Leclerc was also surprised at his success in claiming a front row start.
“Considering the weekend we’ve had until now, I did not expect this at all,” said the Monegasque. “The last lap, I had to put everything together so I’m really happy with second place. I was worried in Q1 and Q2 just to go through.
“It’s amazing. Our car is very picky. When we put on the new tyres everything came alive. I hope tomorrow goes well. It is our target to beat Mercedes in the constructors’ championship. That is all that matters this weekend.”
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso qualified seventh for Aston Martin ahead of Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.
F1 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX STARTING GRID
1) Max Verstappen
2) Charles Leclerc
3) Oscar Piastri
4) George Russell
5) Lando Norris
6) Yuki Tsunoda
7) Fernando Alonso
8) Nico Hulkenberg
9) Sergio Perez
10) Pierre Gasly
11) Lewis Hamilton
12) Esteban Ocon
13) Lance Stroll
14) Alex Albon
15) Daniel Ricciardo
16) Carlos Sainz
17) Kevin Magnussen
18) Valtteri Bottas
19) Zhou Guanyu
20) Logan Sargeant
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