Verstappen survived pit lane 'scare' en route to final pole of 2022

Max Verstappen will start the final race of the season from pole position, despite suffering a scare at the start of the final round of qualifying in Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen had been fastest of anyone in the first round of Saturday evening's session, with his Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez taking the honours at the end of Q2.

The pair looked to be locked in a private battle for pole, but Verstappen suffered a scare at the start of the final top ten pole shoot-out round when Verstappen's car wouldn't start.

• Read also: Verstappen and Perez secure Red Bull front row in Abu Dhabi

It meant that Perez - who had been expecting to work with Verstappen on getting a tow down the straights - was surprised to find himself out on track by himself rather than alongside his team mate.

“What happened?” Perez asked race engineer Hugo Bird, to be told: “Max’s car had a little problem. Still in the garage. Just getting going now. We’ll do our thing. You know your targets.”

Verstappen explained later that: “We had a bit of a scare," Verstappen explained afterwards. "It started a bit chaotic, I was supposed to drive out in front of Checo but as soon as I wanted to start my engine, everything just turned off."

"We had to reboot the car and then luckily I still managed to get out – a bit delayed – which is also not great with the tyres. But we still managed to keep everything under control and do a good lap. So I was happy with that,”

Verstappen went to the top of the timing screens on both runs. "We have both of the laps are good enough, so of course very pleased with that.”

Overall Verstappen described today as an "up and down qualifying", explaining: "It started off quite well, Q2 was a bit more messy [with] the tyres. I just honestly couldn’t get the grip together. But then in Q3 it all felt a bit more normal.

“We knew that we had a quick car. I think we just made a few mistakes in Brazil, in hindsight.

“I’m very happy that both cars are on the front row," he added. "Of course we want to win the race but we also want to finish second with Checo in the championship, so that’s definitely a great start for for tomorrow.

Perez is currently tied on points in the drivers standings with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who will start tomorrow's race from third on the grid.

After a week dominated by talk of internal friction at Red Bull after a row over contentious team orders in Brazil, Verstappen had pledged to do whatever he can to help Perez take the runners-up spot.

Verstappen praised their “great teamwork” today and said that he expected “a good battle tomorrow. At least we have both cars there and we can do what we want.”

"Max did a great job," concurred Perez, who finished 0.228s behind Verstappen's pole time of 1:23.824s. "We worked together as a team really strongly on that final run.

"I just didn't make that final step in Q3," he admitted. "Especially Q3 run one wasn't that good. We were a bit behind, but it's good to lock out that front row for tomorrow.

"Looking forward to tomorrow, which is the day that really matters," he added.

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