Verstappen takes pole for final race in Abu Dhabi, earns 12th of season; Leclerc fights back for P2; Piastri best McLaren in P3 as Norris slides down to P5
Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen took the final pole of the season with aplomb during the last Saturday Qualifying of 2023 for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit. With nothing left to prove in his historically dominant World Championship campaign this year, Verstappen nevertheless outpaced the rest of the field to make it 12 total poles out of twenty-two race weekends. The flying Dutchman will go for his record-extending nineteenth victory of the season in Sunday evening’s Grand Prix under the futuristic light show of Yas Marina and it would be a brave man indeed who would bet against him.
The real battles in tomorrow’s race should be behind the now three-time champion, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pulled a scorching lap out of the bag at the death of Q3 to set the second fastest time and earn the right to start alongside Verstappen on the front row. That makes it five front row starts in a row for the Monegasque, including three poles, as Leclerc looks not only to end his year on a high note with another podium but also help pull the Scuderia ahead of mighty Mercedes for P2 in the all-important Constructors’ standings. But both Ferrari and Mercedes had only one car progress into the final Quali session, as George Russell outpaced teammate Lewis Hamilton to the tune of P4 to P11, while the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz had a disastrous effort that saw him bounced out in Q1 and starting tomorrow down in P16. Sainz had a heavy shunt in Free Practice 2 on Friday so perhaps his car is still ailing after the rebuild but certainly the Spaniard is also lacking for pace and confidence at this sneakily tricky track.
McLaren bounced back from their miserable weekend in Las Vegas last week, with outstanding rookie Oscar Piastri getting ahead of both Russell and his teammate Lando Norris with the third fastest time of the final session. Norris was looking good for a front row start on his final flying lap until he had a lurid slide between Turns 13 and 14, losing enough time in the process that he ended up relegated to P5. He’ll be looking for redemption in the race and has a genuinely fast car here. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda surprised the entire paddock by vaulting himself into a sixth place starting position, the team’s new floor upgrade apparently paying dividends even at this late date. Aston Martin’s struggles returned anew here after a solid double points effort in Vegas and Fernando Alonso was the lone Aston to make the final round, ending up P7 for his efforts. Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg once again showed off his special one-lap pace to take P8, incredibly out-dueling the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, whose last flying lap was deleted due to track limits, pushing him all the way back down to P9 on the grid when all was said and done. Look for Perez to be feisty in the race, though, because he has seemed nearly as fast as Verstappen all race weekend to this point. Pierre Gasly of Alpine did decently enough to earn tenth place on the grid, though holding off Hamilton to stay there will be a tall order for the Frenchman. But Gasly will be hoping Tsunoda and Hulkenberg fall back to earth under race conditions where, he will surely be waiting to pounce
Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:24.160 | 1:23.740 | 1:23.445 | |
| 2 | 1:24.459 | 1:23.969 | 1:23.584 | |
| 3 | 1:24.487 | 1:24.278 | 1:23.782 | |
| 4 | 1:24.337 | 1:24.013 | 1:23.788 | |
| 5 | 1:24.368 | 1:23.920 | 1:23.816 | |
| 6 | 1:24.286 | 1:24.207 | 1:23.968 | |
| 7 | 1:24.501 | 1:24.131 | 1:24.084 | |
| 8 | 1:24.425 | 1:24.213 | 1:24.108 | |
| 9 | 1:24.209 | 1:24.116 | 1:24.171 | |
| 10 | 1:24.600 | 1:24.078 | 1:24.548 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s season ending Grand Prix airs live beginning at 8AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you then find out what the last tilt in 2023 has in store!