McLaren chargers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri carried their strong practice form into Saturday’s qualifying in Abu Dhabi, with the pair topping a breathtaking shootout under the floodlights at Yas Marina.
Norris topped Q3 by a comfortable margin from Piastri while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third. The Scuderia’s title hopes were further eroded in the session when Charles Leclerc was left stranded a lowly P13, guaranteeing the Monegasque a back row start on Sunday.
Behind the top three, another remarkable effort by Nico Hulkenberg delivered fourth to the Haas driver, while Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly completed the top six.
The sun had dipped below the horizon at Yas Marina, and the temperature was gradually cooling. McLaren had shown impressive form in practice, and with its battle against Ferrari for the world constructors' title taking center stage, the grid-defining session was set to be a pivotal moment in the rivalry.
Statistically, securing a spot on the front row of the grid, preferably on pole, absolutely crucial in Abu Dhabi – the last nine winners have all started from the top of the field.
Q1 – Disaster strikes for Hamilton
Sergio Perez set an early benchmark in the opening segment, but the Mexican’s lap was promptly deleted, but the Mexican insisted his lap be checked by race control, and when it was, it was immediately reinstated.
The same fate befell Williams rookie Franco Colapinto, although the Argentinean’s transgression was cut and dried. Three minutes in, all drivers, save those who had picked up track limit deletions, had put a time on the board.
But with track evolution fast and furious, lap times followed suit, leading to a few messy – and hairy – moments due to track congestion. Bottas went fastest second before the checkered flag was brandished while Colapinto and Zhou were confirmed dropouts.
While Leclerc topped the segment from Bottas and Sainz, there was drama in the Mercedes camp when Hamilton picked up an errant bollard, thrown out on the track by Magnussen, which became wedged under the Mercedes and likely wreaked havoc on the W15’s balance.
In the end, the seven-time world champion ended up P18 and in the drop zone along with Albon, Zhou, Colapinto and Alpine rookie Doohan. Gutting for the outgoing Mercedes charger on his farewell weekend.
Q2 – Ferrari's title hopes drift further away
The start of the second segment was slightly delayed, allowing for minor track repairs. After the brief respite, the top 15 were back in action. Verstappen immediately went top by a significant margin relative to Q1, with Norris and Piastri – both on used softs – his nearest challengers at that point.
In the drop zone after the first runs were: Alonso, Stroll, Magnussen, Bottas and Gasly.
While Verstappen confidently retreated to Red Bull’s garage, his Q2 done and dusted, everyone else crawled down the pitlane for a second go. Confirming Haas’ remarkable form of late Hulkenberg popped up into P2, while Gasly improved to third.
The chequered flag came out as Stroll nipped into the top 10 - only to be immediately dumped out by team-mate Alonso.
Leclerc then went fastest – but the Scuderia charger’s lap was deleted for track limits at Turn 1! A misstep that dropped the Monegasque down to P14, which will equated to a start from the back of the grid on Sunday when factoring in his 10-place grid penalty.
Finally, as Sainz went fastest, a valiant effort by Bottas carried the Finn into the top ten, while Tsunoda, Lawson, Stroll, Leclerc and Magnussen dropped out of contention.
Q3 – Team papaya prevails!
Nine out of 10 drivers kicked off the shootout, with only Bottas left in the pits, presumably because the Sauber driver had no new softs left.
The flurry of opening flyers saw Verstappen lead the charge although the Red Bull driver’s first hot lap nearly ended in the wall after a massive slide out of the final corner
Piastri had gone second quickest but lost his lap time for track limits at Turn 1. But like Perez earlier, the lap was reinstated for the Aussie. Norris slotted into second – just 0.004s adrift – ahead of Sainz, Hulkenberg and Gasly.
With less than a minute to go, Hulkenberg went to provisional pole with a 1m22.886s! But the German was quickly outdone by Piastri with a 1m22.804s.
But powering out of the final corner, Norris rained on his teammate’s party, beating the latter by a comfortable 0.209s margin.
However, Verstappen had yet to conclude his final flyer but the Dutchman could not improve. It was therefore a McLaren 1-2, with Sainz in third and Hulkenberg in fourth, while Verstappen slid down to fifth.
Gasly took sixth for Alpine ahead of Russell, Alonso, Bottas and Perez who capped the top 10.
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