#AbuDhabiGP Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen clinches 20th-career pole. #F1

Verstappen Abu Dhabi GP pole – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen beat team-mate Sergio Perez to claim pole position in the final qualifying of the season at the Abu Dhabi GP as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three.

The newly-crowned two-time world champion improved on his last flyer with a 1:23.824 effort pipping team-mate Perez by 0.228 seconds, meanwhile, Leclerc is set to lead a Ferrari second row of the grid tomorrow over the Mercedes pairing.

In Q3, Verstappen’s RB18 racer suffered a start-up issue to delay his entry into the final qualifying stage, whilst Perez did question his team-mate absence – a faulty steering wheel was said to be the problem.

Perez – quickest in Q2 – reacted with a personal best sector one, then ran a purple in sector two, although the Red Bull driver struggled with traction and slid out of the final corner to score a 1:24.281.

But Verstappen’s great run gave him provisional pole with a 1:23.988 following two personal bests in sector one and two and a purple in the final sector and was 0.293 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Red Bull team-mate Perez who was a further 0.328 adrift in third.

For the final flying laps, Leclerc ran early and improved on his personal best opening and second sectors and then got a purple in sector three. This guided the Monegasque-driver to second place but was 0.14 down on Verstappen’s pace-setting initial hot-lap from the top ten shootout.

Sainz ran slower in sector one, despite lowering his time eventually, he was only in fourth place to tee up the Red Bull pairing for the final pole of the campaign.

Verstappen improved in all three sectors to be the only driver to break into the 1:23’s bracket, with his .824 effort giving him 0.228 seconds over team-mate Perez – who was fastest of all in sector two.

Despite Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton being quickest in sector one, he was almost 0.7 seconds adrift in fifth as team-mate George Russell placed sixth over McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who were seventh and eighth respectively.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel complained twice over the Red Bull’s blocking him at the final corner in Q1 and Q2 to cost the German a tenth, but the four-time world champion managed to claim ninth for his final Grand Prix with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo completing the top ten.

The Australian will be hit with a three-grid-placed-penalty for the race following his opening-lap collision with Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen at last round’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Perez, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso qualified outside the top ten in 11^th on the classification and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who took 12^th and Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher who was 13^th.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu were the slowest of the Q2 runners in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Verstappen, Alonso made a late improvement to shuffle down Haas F1 Team’s Magnussen down to 16^th on the grid.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified a low-17^th and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who took 18^th and the Williams Racing duo of Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi who brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2022 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1138/abu-dhabi/qualifying.html

2022 Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2022 Abu Dhabi GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18, 1:23.824:

“Yeah, was a bit of an up and down qualifying, Q2 was a bit messy, I couldn’t get the grip together. But in Q3 it felt more normal – we had a bit of a scare as the car turned off. For sure today was amazing but I expect it to be a good battle tomorrow.”

2^nd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18, +0.228:

“It’s a good starting place, I just didn’t make that final step in Q3. But it’s good to lock out the front row for tomorrow, and Max did a good job for me. Thank you to all the fans that are here – I hope tomorrow we can have a strong race. Should be an interesting one.”

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, F1-75, +0.268:

“I locked up in Turn 6, 7 but we are in the position we deserve, the Red Bull were stronger. Should be interesting with Checo tomorrow. I’m sure we can work together with Carlos and maximise the team result.”

In the earlier FP3 session it was Perez topping the time-sheets ahead of Red Bull team-mate Verstappen who was second followed by Mercedes duo Hamilton and Russell who were third and fourth respectively as McLaren’s Norris completed the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2022 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1138/abu-dhabi/practice-3.html

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