A dominant performance from Red Bull, a fantastic Vettel and the return of Mercedes’ woes. How did the Abu Dhabi GP qualifying go?

Under the lights at the Yas Marina circuit, 20 drivers took to the track for the last time this year to battle for pole position. For the seventh time this season, reigning champion Max Verstappen will take the pole position. Pérez has taken the advantage in the battle for second place in the Drivers’ Cup.

It was the last qualifying session of his career for Sebastian Vettel. The German racer decided to call it a season and end his illustrious career, which was decorated with 53 victories, 57 pole positions and 4 championship titles.

After Sunday, Daniel Ricciardo, Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi, whose contracts have not been renewed by their teams, will say goodbye to Vettel, at least temporarily.

Q1

Without much surprise, both Williams drivers struggled in the opening part of qualifying. Joining them in the bottom five were Valtteri Bottas, Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, who was just 18 thousandths of a second off the pace.

But the four-time champion cut a magnificent lap on his second attempt that shot him up to sixth. Even his compatriot Schumacher’s last attempt was successful and saved him from dropping out.

Schumacher’s teammate Magnussen, on the other hand, had to say goodbye to qualifying early just a week after his sensational pole position. His time was only good enough for 16th place.

Less than a second behind Magnussen were Gasly and Bottas. Both drivers will therefore be missing out on a very important battle for a position in the Constructors’ Cup.

Both Williams monoblocs have qualified for the last row. Nicholas Latifi will start his last F1 race from last place.

Q2

Sergio Pérez was the best of the early attempts in Q2. He was over four tenths of a second ahead of Verstappen in second place.

Lando Norris had a surprisingly fast pace. In his McLaren, he split the Ferrari monoposts in third and fifth.

But on their second attempts, the red cars upped the pace and lined up one tenth behind Pérez. Max Verstappen lost another tenth to them.

Despite advancing to Q3, a very frustrated Vettel could be heard on the radio. He didn’t like the fact that for the third time he had encountered slow drivers setting up their fast lap in the last sector.

Fernando Alonso, Júki Cunoda, Mick Schumacher, Lance Stroll and Kuan-yü Zhou were out of the second qualifying session.

Q3

Max Verstappen was the best man to enter the battle for pole position. He had trouble getting the car started in the garage at first, but his first fast lap was three tenths quicker than Sainz’s.

Following Sainz closely were Pérez and Leclerc, the two drivers fighting for position in the Drivers’ Cup. Only three tenths further back were the Mercedes cars.

The last attempts went best for Red Bull. Verstappen improved his lap by another tenth and a half. The Dutchman will be joined on the front row by his teammate Pérez.

The cars of the Maranello stable will line up on the second row at the start of Sunday’s race. Behind them will be the silver arrows of Mercedes.

“The best of the rest of the world” was Lando Norris. Together with Ricciardo, starting from tenth place, they will try to close the gap of 19 points on Alpine in the Constructors’ Cup.

An amazing performance by Sebastian Vettel. He will start in ninth place behind Esteban Ocon.

Source: F1TV