Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Report

It was a long time before anyone came out to start the final Qualifying event of the season.  It was Perez out first, who trailed a number of others.  It became apparent that track limits would be an issue for some drivers, with lap times being deleted, notably Sargeant who didn't set a time on the complete track at all.  Having had some wobbles over the weekend, Red Bull were proved to be sandbagging in Q1 as Verstappen and Perez were first and second.  The Ferraris had looked very strong but Sainz was out in 16th (having had two big shunts over the last 8 days), blaming traffic, in front of Magnussen, Bottas, Zhou and Sargeant.

Again, in Q2, Verstappen was through in first.  There were more shocks lower down though, with Hamilton out in 11th, then Ocon, Stroll, Albon and Ricciardo.  Tsunoda, Alonso, Gasly and Russell were through, so teams were divided between Q1 and Q2.  It was a shame for Williams as they were showing strong in practice.

In the final Qualifying session, the only team looking to compete with the Red Bulls was McLaren.  This was Norris's final chance of the year to pip his pal to pole.  With a huge slide, he lost out in the final sector and not only didn't take pole but lost the front row to his team mate.  In the dying seconds, LeClerc took second, with Perez unable to get close to his team mate and coming in 5th, then 6th as Russell jumped him before having his time deleted and finished 9th.  Verstappen held pole followed by LeClerc, Piastri, Russell, Norris, Tsunoda, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez and Gasly.  Over team radio we found out that Red Bull supremo Helmut Marko had bet against Team Principal, Christian Horner that Verstappen wouldn't make the front row - what confidence!

In the press pen, LeClerc was determined to get second in the Constructors Championship.  His opposition, Hamilton, was done with the season and clearly wanted to get away on holiday.  Norris continues to be frustrated that he makes these mistakes and "ruins" his chances.  He thought he had the pace for pole.