Red Bull surprises in the last qualifying session of the Formula 1 season.
ABU DHABI—United Arab Emirates—Saturday, December 12th—Mercedes had dominated the Saturday qualifying sessions most of the season, with either Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas receiving most of the honors. But on the final qualifying session Saturday night at the Yas Marina Circuit, Max Verstappen posted a last-minute 1:35:246 fastest lap to take pole for Sunday night’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Bottas and Hamilton finishing second and third, respectively.
Hamilton had dominated the first two sessions with times of 1:35:528 and 1:35:486. But Verstappen, who had the best time in the earlier third practice, waited for both Hamilton and Bottas to set their final lap times before the Dutchman beat them both on his. Verstappen was slow in the first two sectors but came around consistently to improve his time in the final sector.
His achievement gave his Red Bull team their first pole of the season and the first by a non-Mercedes driver since 2013.
The outcome surprised Verstappen. “I said before I went to qualifying that it would be the final send of the season, and we did that. It was a tricky qualifying at the beginning to get your laps in, but luckily everything came together in that final lap.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. placed fourth and sixth, respectively, giving their team a good chance to finish third overall in the Constructor’s Championship. In contrast, Alex Albon finished his Red Bull in fifth. Dani Kvyat and teammate Pierre Gasly were seventh and tenth in their Alpha Tauri’s, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took ninth.
Others fared poorly. Both American Haas F1 drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Pietro Fittipaldi–driving their final races for the team–were eliminated in the opening session, placing 17th and 19th on the grid. Both Nicolas Latifi and George Russell of Williams joined them, along with Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen. Both Renault drivers, Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo, just missed the final session, finishing 11th and 12th. Both were eliminated in the second session, along with Sebastian Vettel in his last drive at Ferrari), Antonio Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo. And Sergio Perez, last week’s winner in the Racing Point.
Verstappen had been used to finishing third in qualifying, but he proved that patience prevailed on Saturday night. “It gets a bit frustrating sometimes, but (I’m) very pleased with today.”
