Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will start tomorrow's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the front row after a dominant performance in today's final qualifying session of the season.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz locked out the second row of the grid for Ferrari, with Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and George Russell having to settle for fifth and sixth place.
McLaren's Lando Norris left it late to take P7 ahead of Alpine's Esteban Ocon, with Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top ten. Fernando Alonso narrowly missed the final cut and will start from 11th.
The setting of the sun over Yas Marina Circuit heralded the final qualifying session of the season, with Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez looking favourites to claim pole having finished fastest in FP2 and FP3 respectively. But it was by no means a done deal, with Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell carrying on their good form from Brazil and proving more competitive than expected, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had seemingly been struggling for pace.
Q1: Verstappen quickest as Magnussen, Gasly and Bottas eliminated
First on track was Nicholas Latifi ahead of his final outing with the Williams team, followed by AlphaTauri pair Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly along with Haas' Mick Schumacher and Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel. All of them were straight onto the soft tyres. Latifi's time was 1:26.841s but Gasly was immediately half a second quicker, and then it was Tsunoda who went top ahead of Schumacher and Stroll leaving Vettel in fourth.
By now the big beasts were stirring from the slumber on pit lane. Leclerc emphatically moved the goal posts with a time of 1:25.211s, almost a full second better than Tsunoda, and even he was four tenths off the pace of Perez who was next to check in. Verstappen then shaved a further 0.066s off the top time, while Lando Norris claimed an early fourth for McLaren until he was bumped down by Russell. Hamilton's first run was sufficient for sixth despite complaining of brake problems. Sainz was the last of the top tier drivers to set a time which put him into third just ahead of Leclerc.
After that initial flurry of flying laps, the Aston Martin drivers found themselves straddling the elimination line with Stroll currently safe and Vettel in danger of elimination along with with Schumacher, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi. However there was still plenty of time for everyone to make another run before the chequered flag.
Latifi was once again the first man to head back out on track. Verstappen and both Mercedes cars were also quick to hustle out, leaving the Ferraris as the only cars lagging on pit lane. Vettel leapt up from the danger zone to fifth place, evidence of the evolving conditions of the circuit in the cooling temperatures. Albon was strangely lacklustre with his lap, while Gasly and Bottas improved but remained in the danger zone nonetheless.
Last week's pole winner Kevin Magnussen now found himself at risk, and the Haas driver was duly dumped into the bottom five by improved laps from Tsunoda and Alpine's Fernando Alonso, who had been briefly in the danger done before squeaking through in P15. Verstappen did not improve his time and at one point almost came to a complete halt on track, but he remained top of the times ahead of Perez, Sainz and Leclerc by the time that the clock ran out.
Along with Magnussen it was Gasly, Bottas, Albon and Latifi who were all consigned to an unwelcome early finish to their day.
Q2: Perez takes over at the top as Alonso misses the cut in P11
Russell and Hamilton were first out this time and had the track to themselves, albeit on the same set of soft tyres they had had used in Q1. Even so, Russell improved on his earlier lap and chalked up a time of 1:25.363s which was four tenths quicker than Hamilton.
The rest of the field - on fresher tyres than the two Mercedes drivers - was now getting into gear and heading out. Vettel managed to split the two Mercedes while Stroll settled into fourth place. Esteban Ocon then threaded the needle between Russell and Vettel to take up residence in second, but then the Ferraris showed up with Sainz going top with a time of 1:25.039s which was four tenths ahead of Leclerc.
Next up were the Red Bulls, with Perez getting the initial advantage over Verstappen with a time of 1:24.419s with Verstappen - who was complaining about a lack of grip in second - 0.443s behind. By now, Hamilton had moved on to a new set of softs and improved to second place to split the Bulls, but the lack of the Mercedes' straight line speed compared to Perez was telling. Russell proved the point when he completed a new lap only to find himself fourth behind Verstappen.
Further back, Alonso once again found himself on the bubble while Tsunoda, Ricciardo, Stroll, Schumacher and Zhou Guanya were all in real danger of elimination with just one more chance to improve on their times. While some at the top sat out the final minutes, Norris in sixth left it late to head out but finally did so for one last run to ensure he was through.
It proved to be a wise move, with Vettel immediately jumping head of him into fifth showing there was plenty of pace left to be found. Ocon, Ricciardo and Alonso all then pushed into the top ten, briefly pushing Norris out, but the McLaren was able to scamper to safety with his final lap to end up back in sixth. Leclerc had also flirted with danger and dropped out of the top ten for a worrying spell, but he and Sainz both improved to split the Red Bulls to finish in second and third.
Those late improvements left Alonso on the wrong side of the cut, along with Tsunoda, Schumacher, Stroll and Zhou.
Q3: Verstappen and Perez lock out front row ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes
The smart money remained on one of the Red Bulls taking pole position as the lights at the end of pit lane went green for the final ten drivers to start the shoot-out round. Hamilton led the way out on a new set of soft tyres, the team having two fresh sets to work with as did Red Bull and Ferrari thanks to some careful tyre management through the session so far. Perez was surprised to find Verstappen was not on hand to help him with a tow down the straights, the world champion having been delayed in the pits by a 'little issue' getting the RB18 started before he could be released.
Hamilton went top with a time of 1:24.678s, a fraction ahead of Russell, but Sainz was soon going quicker with a lap clocking in at 1:24.281s while Leclerc was 0.062s behind. Perez looked on course to go quicker but a slide out of the final corner cost him valuable time and left him in second. A few moments later Verstappen crossed the line with a time of 1:23.988s to take a three tenths lead over Sainz, Perez and Leclerc, with Hamilton and Russell best of the rest. McLaren were the last to head out for their first runs, and Norris had to abort his flying lap due to traffic leaving him without an initial time.
Leclerc was able to edge up to second place on his final run but was a tenth off Verstappen's time. Working together this time allowed both Red Bulls to improve their times, Verstappen to 1:23.824s while Perez fell 0.228s short of pole and had to accept second place on the grid for tomorrow's race. Leclerc and Sainz locked out row two for Ferrari, and Hamilton and Russell made it an all-Mercedes third row behind them.
Norris did manage to get a time in to finish in P7 ahead of Ocon, Vettel and Ricciardo. However Ricciardo has a three place grid penalty resulting from his opening lap collision with Magnussen in last week's race, meaning he will drop to 13th on the grid tomorrow. Alonso will be promoted to P10 with Tsunoda and Schumacher also getting one place boosts.
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