Elsewhere, Charles Leclerc misplaced his finest lap in Q2 to a observe limits violation for Ferrari, which boosts McLaren’s possibilities of netting the constructors’ title even additional given its 1-2 outcome, whereas Lewis Hamilton’s closing weekend for Mercedes included a shock Q1 exit.
Verstappen had seemed in management via the opening segments, with the Dutchman the one driver to get via to Q3 with two units of latest softs remaining.
He used his first to guide with a 1m22.945s, albeit with a lurid slide out of the ultimate nook, with Norris trailing by 0.004s at this stage.
On the ultimate runs, Verstappen ran final of the pack, however didn’t enhance, because the added grip punch of the brand new softs acquired McLaren again to the pacesetting place it had established in FP1 and FP2.
Piastri shot to a 1m22.804s, which shuffled outgoing Haas star Nico Hulkenberg again from the provisional pole he had snared with the opening effort on the ultimate runs – the German finally ending up behind Sainz in fourth.
Norris then got here by to edge his team-mate by 0.21s with the quickest time within the closing sector, with Piastri’s Q3 look beginning with him briefly dropping his first run time as he flirted with the observe limits exiting Flip 1.
Behind on the ultimate fliers, Verstappen solely set a private finest within the closing sector and so didn’t go faster general – the Dutchman ending forward of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and George Russell for Mercedes in fifth.
In Q2, Leclerc seemed to have progressed because the quickest runner, with earlier phase chief Verstappen even briefly out of his automobile within the pits, however the Ferrari driver slipped fractionally past observe limits at Flip 1 and so misplaced his 1m22.985s private finest.
Not like Pink Bull with Perez in Q1, Ferrari couldn’t get Leclerc’s time reinstated as a patch of blue kerb paint was seen as he went deep via the left-hander and his fall to 14th means he’ll begin from the final row of the grid together with his battery-change grid penalty.
In Q1, Hamilton was the massive shock faller – the Mercedes driver down in the direction of the drop zone after the intial runs and with an enormous observe enchancment issue evidenced from his former team-mate Bottas leaping from sixteenth to second within the phase finally topped by Leclerc.
On the finish of Hamilton’s closing flier, the place he was trailing Magnussen throughout, the Haas of Magnussen reducing Flip 14 and knocking a inexperienced bollard into his path meant the seven-time world champion needed to do the ultimate corners together with his automobile’s dealing with compromised.
Provisional beginning grid:
Pictures from Abu Dhabi GP Apply & Qualifying
On this article
Alex Kalinauckas
System 1
Be the primary to know and subscribe for real-time information electronic mail updates on these matters
Subscribe to information alerts
