Max Verstappen will start Sunday's season finale from pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton after getting a hugely effective helping tow from his Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez in the final round of qualifying.
McLaren's Lando Norris made a surprise successful late bid for third place on the grid ahead of Perez, with a final run from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz also pushing Valtteri Bottas to sixth place on the grid.
However Red Bull had earlier been forced to switch to a soft tyre strategy for both drivers for the start of tomorrow's race after Verstappen locked up and flat-spotted his mediums in Q2. The team downplayed the change, insisting it had always been a viable strategy under equal consideration.
Practice was over and done for 2021, and heading into the final qualifying session of the season it was Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton who looked to have the slight advantage over his title rival Max Verstappen. In reality it was all very much wide open and everything still to play for between the pair, as the setting sun melted into the desert horizon and the skies burst into blame over Yas Marina Circuit in sympathy with the seething tensions simmering on pit lane.
Q1: Hamilton sets the pace as Russell and Raikkonen head to the sideline
Almost half the field were lining up on predominantly soft tyres at the end of pit lane waiting for the lights to go green, with Red Bull putting both their drivers out straight away while Mercedes held their cars back from the initial fray. Verstappen was first to set a representative lap time of 1:23.680s and it was a few minutes before Lewis Hamilton posted his response and went straight to the top with time of 1:23.266s, a tenth quicker than his own team mate Valtteri Bottas.
Lando Norris was also looking strong in fourth for McLaren ahead of Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, with Daniel Ricciardo eighth in the second McLaren just ahead of Sergio Perez. The Mexican soon shrugged off his sluggish start with his next run which briefly put him ahead of his team mate, until Verstappen immediately responded with an improvement of his own to go second just 0.056s behind Hamilton - battle very much joined between the top two contenders.
A bollard sent flying by Haas' Mick Schumacher and subsequently run down by Norris triggered a brief red flag to enable a track worker to retrieve it. The stoppage was neatly timed for the natural mid-session lull, and then it was quickly back to work for the 20 drivers with Schumacher and his team mate Nikita Mazepin among those at risk of elimination together with Sebastian Vettel, Nicholas Latifi and Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel's cause hadn't been helped by coming across Alpine's Esteban Ocon on the racing point just before the red flag, but he still had time remaining on the clock to make another bid when the session resumed.
Hamilton was also back out and improved his time to 1:22.845s with Bottas moving into second 0.272s further back ahead of Verstappen and Perez who had opted to sit things out in the garage. Charles Leclerc managed to stir his Ferrari to sixth between the two AlphaTauris of Tsunoda and Gasly, pushing Norris down to ninth ahead of Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon. Vettel managed to find just enough speed to claw his way to safety in 15th and there was also a late improvement from his Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll which had the knock-on effect of demoting his Canadian compatriot Latifi into the drop zone. Surprisingly Latifi still ended ahead of his Williams colleague George Russell who locked up on his final push lap and for once failed in his bid to make it into Q2. Also out were Raikkonen, Schumacher and Mazepin.
Q2: Lock-up forces Verstappen to switch to softs for Sunday's start
Hamilton and Bottas were keen to get out ahead of the rest when the lights went green for the start of the second round, both Mercedes drivers immediately nailing their tyre selection colours to the medium cause. Red Bull made the same call, with only the Aston Martin drivers opting for softs at this stage.
Hamilton laid down the initial target time of 1:23.185s and this time his advantage over Verstappen was a mere four thousandths of a second, with Bottas close behind in third followed by a strong flyer from Tsunoda. Somewhat further back were Norris, Perez, Stroll and Antonio Giovinazzi, with Gasly and Vettel also having completed their first laps before the Alpine and Ferrari cars all rolled into life on the soft compound in their respective bids to make it into the top ten.
Sainz' time proved quickest of the session so far and put him at the top, while Leclerc went fourth ahead of Bottas. Alonso and Ocon debuted in seventh and eighth respectively, meaning Perez was now on the bubble ahead of Ricciardo, Stroll, Giovinazzi, Vettel and Gasly, who had suffered braking issues on his first push lap. The five were now in the drop zone and at risk of missing Q3. There was also drama at the top for Verstappen who had started another run only to lock up into turn 1, flat-spotting the tyres that he should have been starting tomorrow's race on unless the officials allowed him to substitute a like-for-like set of mediums.
While Red Bull deliberated what to do, it was time to sort out the final qualifiers for the top ten. Vettel and Stroll momentarily had the track to themselves, but failed to make progress. The peace and quiet didn't last long, and it was soon getting busy again with Sainz declaring "It's like a race out there!" over the Ferrari team radio, and when the dust settled it was Alonso, Gasly and Giovinazzi who had all fallen short.
Meanwhile Red Bull had been forced to pull the pin on a soft tyre strategy for the start of Sunday's race for both their drivers. It duly succeeded in shooting Verstappen and Perez to the top of the times with Red Bull insisting they were happy with the enforced change of plans. Hamilton stayed on the mediums and improved only slightly to third ahead of the soft-shod Sainz and Leclerc, with Bottas ending the round in sixth. They were joined in progressing to the pole shoot-out by Norris, Tsunoda, Ocon and a last-gasp effort from Ricciardo scraping through by 12 thousandths of a second.
©RedBull
Q3: Verstappen takes emphatic pole from Hamilton
With no further distractions about tyre selection, it was time for one final 12 minute session for the remaining ten drivers. Red Bull immediately orchestrated a tow around half the lap for Verstappen from Perez which put the Dutch driver into immediate provisional pole with a time of 1:22.109s. It was a whopping half a second faster than Hamilton could manage having received no such equivalent assistance from Bottas and who had also made a minor mistake early in the run. A second clean lap for Perez then put the Mexican into third, with Bottas fourth and a full second away from the top time.
Sainz and Leclerc slotted into fifth and sixth ahead of Norris who was complaining of being 'screwed over' by Perez during his first run, with Ocon proving quicker than Ricciardo. Tsunoda's initial time had been good enough for third, but was subsequently deleted for exceeding track limits dropping him back to last place with time left for one more effort to improve things.
With the clock counting down the final minutes and seconds, Hamilton and Bottas took point for the final runs. It was a better run for Hamilton but not by enough to completely close that gap to Verstappen who remained 0.371s out of reach at the chequered flag. A great final lap by Norris put the McLaren into third ahead of Perez, while Sainz pipped Bottas to fifth place at the very last second. Behind the Finn, Leclerc is set to start from seventh ahead of Tsunoda, with Ocon beating Ricciardo.
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