Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen beat his McLaren title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to pole place with an imposing efficiency in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Each Verstappen’s laps within the ultimate session have been adequate for pole. He was 0.201 seconds forward of Norris, who edged Piastri by 0.029secs.
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Norris heads Verstappen by 12 factors going into the ultimate race of the season, with Piastri an extra 4 adrift of the Briton.
Norris might be champion if he finishes on the rostrum no matter anybody else’s end result.
Verstappen would win a fifth consecutive title if he wins the race with Norris in fourth or decrease.
Sunday’s grand prix at Yas Marina begins at 13:00 GMT.
Verstappen ‘extremely comfortable’
Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri have all gained seven races this 12 months, with George Russell victorious within the different two [Reuters]
Verstappen’s qualifying session was a virtuoso efficiency from the Dutchman.
Purple Bull used team-mate Yuki Tsunoda to present him a slipstream down the second again straight on his first lap, and the end result was the quickest lap of the weekend by greater than 0.4secs.
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There was no tow on Verstappen’s second lap, however he nonetheless improved additional, snipping 0.088secs off his personal time.
“Extremely comfortable to be in first,” Verstappen stated. “That is the one factor we will do – attempt to maximise every part with the automotive. And we definitely did that in qualifying.”
Norris was solely third quickest on the primary runs in qualifying, 0.456secs off Verstappen and slowest of the title contenders, however he narrowed the hole by greater than half on his second lap.
“Max did an excellent job so congrats to him,” Norris stated. “We did every part we may. I believe my lap was fairly good. I used to be fairly comfortable.
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“Dissatisfied to not be on pole for the ultimate weekend however we simply weren’t quick sufficient as we speak. We’ll should do it tomorrow. I nonetheless need to win tomorrow and that is going to be the aim.”
Piastri stated: “The final lap was fairly good, there wasn’t an entire lot left in that, not fairly fast sufficient as we speak but it surely units up a reasonably thrilling day tomorrow.”
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