FINAL DUEL IN THE DESERT: Verstappen and Red Bull ace Hamilton and Mercedes for all important pole at Yas Marina; Norris pips P3 from Perez
With the 2021 Formula 1 season and Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships down to the last race at the futuristic Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, Saturday’s qualifying took on added import and Red Bull and Max Verstappen got the better of their arch rival, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton. With the two title aspirants entering the weekend in a dead heat on Drivers’ points and Verstappen only ahead by virtue of the race wins tiebreaker, the Red Bull braintrust pulled a clever maneuver to give their star contender the edge by deploying wingman Sergio Perez to give the Dutchman the draft at a crucial time in Q3. That enabled Verstappen to set a fast lap that Hamilton, running without a draft from his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was unable to match. So Verstappen will line up from the pole and Hamilton in P2 for tomorrow’s race. Adding another complication to the mix, Verstappen will be starting on a set of Soft Pirellis after flat-spotting his Mediums in Q2 while Hamilton will be on the theoretically preferred Medium rubber to start. It should make it a very interesting strategic race and will likely find Hamilton hunting down Verstappen on the faster Soft tires as the season reaches its fascinating climax.
Behind that elite top two, Lando Norris managed to wrest away P3 on the grid from Perez with a brilliant final hot lap, relegating the Mexican veteran to P4. But that was still better than what Bottas could accomplish, as the Finn could do no better than the sixth fastest lap in his final qualifying attempt with Mercedes. They sandwiched Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who bettered his teammate Charles Leclerc, P5 to P7. Yuki Tsunoda was the only AlphaTauri to get into Q3 and qualified P8, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon set the ninth fastest time and the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo slotted in at P10.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:23.322 | 1:22.800 | 1:22.109 | |
| 2 | 1:22.845 | 1:23.145 | 1:22.480 | |
| 3 | 1:23.553 | 1:23.256 | 1:22.931 | |
| 4 | 1:23.350 | 1:23.135 | 1:22.947 | |
| 5 | 1:23.624 | 1:23.174 | 1:22.992 | |
| 6 | 1:23.117 | 1:23.246 | 1:23.036 | |
| 7 | 1:23.467 | 1:23.202 | 1:23.122 | |
| 8 | 1:23.428 | 1:23.404 | 1:23.220 | |
| 9 | 1:23.764 | 1:23.420 | 1:23.389 | |
| 10 | 1:23.829 | 1:23.448 | 1:23.409 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With the Drivers’ Championship coming down to this final race it should be absolutely nail-biting stuff. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!