Max Verstappen takes Abu Dhabi GP pole as Sebastian Vettel impresses in final qualifying
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Max Verstappen will start the final race of the season on pole position after a qualifying session in which Red Bull looked to be in a different league.
So strong was the Dutchman’s pace that he set two lap times that were fast enough for pole. The first looked like he might have slightly exceeded track limits on the final corner, but the second was faster anyway and he definitely kept his car on track.
He was giving his team-mate Sergio Perez a tow on that final run and it helped the Mexican to qualify in second place. The Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will be directly behind them on the grid, with the two Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in fifth and sixth.
The four drivers leaving the grid after this weekend’s race had more reason than ever to want to put on a good show in qualifying. Sebastian Vettel was very fast in Q1 and was a very popular person to make it to Q2. Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher also made it through, though Nicholas Latifi will start his final F1 race dead last.
Alex Albon will share the last row with him after another qualifying session to forget for Williams. Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen were the other three to have their sessions cut shorter than they would have liked.
Schumacher would bow out of qualifying in the middle section. Zhou Guanyu, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda joined him in the bottom five, along with a surprise in the form of Fernando Alonso, not that he sounded too bothered – “It’s okay,” he said over the radio at the end of his final qualifying session as an Alpine driver.
Both Vettel and Ricciardo made it through to Q3, much to the delight of fans sad to see them drop off the grid after this race. Both McLarens being in the final part of the session was good news for them, in their desire to battle with Alpine for fourth place in the constructors’ championship.
Ricciardo went 10th fastest but will start three places further down thanks to his grid penalty. Vettel is ninth on the grid behind Esteban Ocon in eighth and Lando Norris one place further ahead, while the Red Bull, Ferraris and Mercedes fill the top six places.
Full 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying results