By Robert Haile
It has been a historic and record breaking season for Red Bull as Max Verstappen secured the final pole position of the season with Sergio Perez in second.
The double world champion has won more races, fourteen, this season than any other driver and there is still one left and the team has secured their fifth constructors championship.
It is also a possibility that Perez can finish second in the drivers championship which would be another first for the British based team.
Verstappen said: “It couldn’t have been better today, the tow worked out well as we managed to lock out the front row. We went out there and did our thing.
“As a Team we had an almost perfect qualifying and we are very excited for tomorrow. The most important thing is that Checo stays ahead of Charles so we’ll do what we can to make that happen.
“I do think that our car is quick, there’s a massive question mark around the other teams though and how much long-run performance they will have gained overnight.
“We made a few mistakes in Brazil I guess but we learn from that and we are back where we should be.”
In what would be the last qualifying session of the season Williams duo of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi will be starting in nineteenth and twentieth.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly start next to each other in seventeenth and eighteenth while Haas’ sprint Pole Sitter Kevin Magnussen went out in sixteenth.
In the second session five different teams lost drivers as Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo took fifteenth, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished fourteenth and Mick Schumacher last session in a Haas gave him a thirteenth place.
Yuki Tsunoda improved from the last race to put his AlphaTauri twelfth behind a fascinating competition as Alpine Fernando Alonso missed out on the top ten as both McLaren’s made it through.
The top six places went to the top three constructors as Red Bull’s Verstappen took pole and Perez second with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third and Carlos Sainz fourth.
Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell took fifth and sixth.
There are two battles still happening here as Perez and Leclerc are in a straight shootout for second in the drivers championship, whoever finishes higher takes the place.
While Ferrari and Mercedes are in a battle for second in the constructors championship with the Italian team holding the advantage.
Lando Norris’s McLaren took seventh ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine in eighth with Sebastian Vettel final qualifying session providing a ninth place.
Another final session runner was Daniel Ricciardo who took tenth for McLaren as the team looks to take fourth place off Alpine.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Sebastian Vettel (Aston Marin)
- Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
- Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
- Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
- Mick Schumacher (Haas)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
- Vallteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
THE HERDWICK NEWS 