Verstappen takes pole at season-ending Abu Dhabi GP, Hamilton 11th

Published 26/11/2023 at 00:28 GMT

Max Verstappen secured his 12th pole position of the campaign for the season-ending F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver and world champion beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.139 seconds, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finishing third. Verstappen had difficulties with his car during practice sessions, but still managed to top the standings at Yas Marina Circuit.

Wolff says Vegas GP can ‘provide great racing’

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured his 12th pole position of the season for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Verstappen beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.139 seconds at Yas Marina Circuit with a superb run in Q3. Oscar Piastri of McLaren placed third.

The Dutch F1 world champion triumphed despite enduring difficulties with his car in practice sessions.

“Very weird,” Verstappen said. “The whole weekend so far has been a bit of a struggle. We definitely improved the car for qualifying and from lap one it seemed a bit more together and we could push more.

“Around here, with the tyres, you have little slides and it can cost you a lot of lap time. That was happening to us in practice but in qualifying it was a bit more connected.”

Verstappen won his third successive F1 drivers’ championship last month, having dominated this season.

In contrast, seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has struggled in 2023, and it was no different in Abu Dhabi. He exited in Q2 for the second race in a row and will start 11th on the grid.

Hamilton admitted he was “happy” to have completed his last qualifying race in this season’s Mercedes car.

“I am definitely happy that it’s nearly over,” he said. “It is inconsistent, up and down, it’s massively out of balance and hard to predict what is going to happen.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff added: “I am happy that was the last qualifying of the season and we are going to come with a new car.”

Hamilton’s teammate George Russell managed to finish fourth, while Lando Norris placed fifth after an error on his final lap.

“I made a mistake and ruined my day,” the McLaren driver said. “I just hope I can fight back. The car is good. Another Saturday ruined.”

Sergio Perez had qualified in fifth initially, but his fastest lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. The Red Bull driver was demoted to ninth.

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