Verstappen snatches pole at Yas Marina to break Mercedes’ season-long streak; Bottas betters Hamilton for P2 to spoil the champion’s return
After missing last week’s wild and wooly Sakhir Grand Prix due to COVID, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton returned for Round 17 and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the strange, abbreviated 2020 F1 season. But if the current and seven-time World Champion expected to simply come back in and grab an easy pole after his enforced absence his teammate Valtteri Biottas and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had other ideas. After struggling somewhat throughout Saturday qualifying, Hamilton appeared to have done enough to hook up a pole-worthy lap when the checkers flew at the end of Q3 and he went to the top of the pylon. But his time as provisional fastest man on the day was short-lived when Bottas came steaming home six-tenths ahead of his illustrious stablemate, seeming to simultaneously get the better of Hamilton while also keeping Mercedes’ season-long pole streak comfortably intact. But barely a moment later, Verstappen crashed the Silver Arrows celebration by laying down a time of 1:35.246, .025 better than Bottas and good enough to give Red Bull — and any team not named Mercedes — their first pole of the year. So P2 Bottas will start on the front row alongside pole-sitter Vertspappen, who will have a hungry Hamilton right behind him on the second row in P3. With Verstappen having crashed out on the opening lap last weekend, Hamilton seeing the young substitute George Russell nearly win in his car and Bottas being thoroughly outclassed by the substitute Russell just as he has been by Hamilton for most of the season, the list of competing motivations to win tomorrow’s race and the resultant pressure on the drivers is almost too delicious to contemplate. Simply put, the start at Yas Marina for the Abu Dhabi GP on Sunday could be absolutely bananas.
The McLaren of Lando Norris also acquitted himself exceedingly well, out-qualifying his teammate Carols Sainz P4 to P6 and taking a spot alongside Hamilton on the second row of the grid. For good measure, Norris also bettered Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Alexander Albon, who once again was found slightly wanting with his qualifying efforts with only the fifth fastest time. Daniil Kvyat, who may be racing for AlphaTauri for the last time this weekend, bettered his more highly regarded teammate Pierre Gasly P7 to P10 respectively, while Lance Stroll was P8 for Racing Point. The second Racing Point of Sergio Perez, last week’s surprise feel-good race winner at Sakhir, will start form second to last on the grid due to engine changes and elected not to even set a time in Q2. However, it should be great fun to see if the speedy Perez can slice his way through the field again, as he did so remarkably for his maiden F1 victory in Bahrain in Round 16. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had the ninth fastest lap, easily beating his senior Scuderia teammate Sebastian Vettel, who was once again bounced in Q2 with a poor time only good enough for P13. However, Leclerc was penalized 3 grid spots for his recklessness on the opening lap last week, which ruined not only Verstappen’s race but also his own, and so the Monegasque will line up just one place ahead of Vettel in P12. Leclerc will be desperate to redeem himself and finish out the season on a positive note after a couple of subpar late season performances, while Vettel will be desperate to wrap up his annus horribilis as he heads for the exit from Maranello and looks forward to what should be greener pastures with the formidable Racing Point team — soon to be rechristened Aston Martin — for next season.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:35.993 | 1:35.641 | 1:35.246 | |
| 2 | 1:35.699 | 1:35.527 | 1:35.271 | |
| 3 | 1:35.528 | 1:35.466 | 1:35.332 | |
| 4 | 1:36.016 | 1:35.849 | 1:35.497 | |
| 5 | 1:36.106 | 1:35.654 | 1:35.571 | |
| 6 | 1:36.517 | 1:36.192 | 1:35.815 | |
| 7 | 1:36.459 | 1:36.214 | 1:35.963 | |
| 8 | 1:36.502 | 1:36.143 | 1:36.046 | |
| 9 | 1:35.881 | 1:35.932 | 1:36.065 | |
| 10 | 1:36.545 | 1:36.282 | 1:36.242 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s season finale, a day into night race in Abu Dhabi, will be broadcast on ESPN2 beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With the cold winter of no racing staring us in the face, let’s see if Max Verstappen can give us all a parting thrill by fending off a brace of mighty Mercedes to bring down the curtain on 2020. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!