The Saturday in F1 Abu Dhabi GP saw Max Verstappen take centerstage and do all he can to keep the McLaren pair at bay, while midfields enjoyed the run.
It ended up with yet another goal for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on Saturday in F1 Abu Dhabi GP. The Dutchman had some help along the way but he put up two purple laps to secure pole and do whatever he can to stop the McLaren pair from anywhere on the top spot.
He even used scrubbed tyres in all of Q2 to save couple for Q3 and the trick worked. He took place handsomely and has the chance to dictate pace on Sunday from the lead. It cannot be a plain run for Verstappen as if they finish in the order they start, the Dutchman would lose.
He will give it all to do the unlikely of winning the F1 title from a position no one thought he can. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda played some role after making it into Q3 in a surprise finish, especially after reverting to old floor due to damage in FP3. He sacrificed his own lap to be only P10.
He is ready to do the same in the race if he can, but he is a bit far off from McLaren F1 pair. He could start on the hard tyre and run long to catch either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri and hold them off. The Brit was a bit down after losing out on pole, even though he felt the lap was good from his side.
All he got to do now is to finish where he starts without losing any place and get his first F1 title. Teammate Piastri has the hard task to undertake but he can still play a role in decision-making. If anything happens to either at the front, he can capitalise.
And if there is nothing else, he can help Norris to secure his. Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc have no wish to play a role in the deciding the F1 championship, but they want to secure good results for themselves in the final race, starting fourth and fifth.
Russell already planted seeds in F1 qualifying, while Leclerc was more concerned about a step up from practice to qualifying. Andrea Kimi Antonelli rued lack of grip for Q2 exit in a surprise fall, while Lewis Hamilton was without any words after Q1 exit after he was unable to stitch the perfect lap.
Verstappen: “Yeah, I think in general, qualifying felt a little bit more together compared to the other sessions, where I always felt like we were still lacking a little bit. But then I think with the final changes that we made going into the night, that seemed to help us a bit. And then throughout qualifying, just improving nicely. In Q2, of course, I was on scrubbed tyres, and to be honest, I was a little bit surprised on the first run how much the new tyres actually gave me. But yeah, it was a good lap already, with a little bit of help also from Yuki with a tow. So, that was very nice of him to give up one of his runs. And then the second lap, I was not sure if I was going to improve just because of the tow that I got. But then again, just found a little bit more lap time in the corners, and that gave me a little bit more lap time. So happy with that, happy with the one-lap performance at the end in qualifying. Now, of course, the big question mark is can we keep that up in the race.
“Of course, I’m excited. I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to try to win that race. But of course, with that, I still need a little bit of help or luck to win the championship. But we’ll see how that goes tomorrow. All out. I have nothing to lose. So for me, of course, I’m going to try to win the race. I’m going to defend. If I need to attack, I’ll attack, because what can happen? You’re either second or third – or you win. That would be fantastic. We’ll figure it out tomorrow, not tonight. I mean, it’s like talking about strategy—you can talk about it for one hour, two hours, and then normally after one lap, you throw it in the bin. So, yeah, a lot can go well for you, can go against you, and we’ll find out tomorrow. Yeah. It [the 2016 race] was also a different layout.
“I feel like now you get towed around a lot more around the lap, so it’s probably not as easy to do something like that. Cars also are completely different to back then. I felt like it was a lot easier back then to back it up because the tyres would overheat a lot when you would get close. I remember even in 2016, in some qualifying laps, you couldn’t go flat out in Sector 1 to keep the tyres alive in the last sector—which actually was here, for example. So yeah, very different times. I hope it’s not straightforward, the race—but hopefully that’s not because of me!”
Norris: “I think Q1, Q2, not the smoothest. My Q3 laps, I was pretty happy with, honestly. So yeah, I felt pretty good. I felt like I got a lot out of the car today, but it just wasn’t enough. So, a bit disappointed because you just want to be on pole for the final race of the year. But we just didn’t have the pace today. So, I felt like I got the maximum out of the car, and I have to be happy with that. Of course, behind the one person I kind of want to be ahead of—that’s the only reason for the disappointment. But otherwise, I was pretty happy with my laps, and yeah, it was the maximum we could do. Bits. I think we weren’t in the best position on Friday. I think we’ve improved in quite a few areas since then. And race pace, you know, normally we’re pretty strong. But like Oscar said, Max’s pace was also very strong. So yeah, I think today when you look at it, we weren’t quite quick enough. But of course, we’ll hope we can turn some of that around tomorrow.
“I don’t mind either. I’ve been in both positions, I guess. I felt good in both. I performed in both. So yeah, I’m not too bothered to be the hunter or the hunted. I think normally to be hunted is fine because you’re normally the one with the advantage in the first place, so that’s good. And of course, I would sign for that now but life’s not that simple, sadly. So, I’m still going to go into tomorrow and we are still going to plan for how we can win the race, whether it’s on pace or strategy or whatever it may be. That’s all going to be our plan tomorrow, and that’s how I want to end the season—standing on top. So, nothing changes from that side. I mean, it’s not something you decide now, honestly. It’s something that you’ll see and decide before the start of the race and five metre s before you brake into Turn 1.
“Until then, I think everyone just wants to get the maximum out of it for themselves. It’s not a conversation that needs to be had, and I think we both understand each other and are respectful enough of one another. I think we both understand that no one would do anything in a bad way to make the other feel worse. We both respect what we do every single weekend, every quali, every race. We go out and race together. But that’s the same off the track—we’re two different guys that get along, and that’s all we need.”
Piastri: “I think overall, pretty happy. I feel like Q1, that was the first lap that was actually good for the weekend, which was nice to have it at the right time. And then I think the laps in Q3 were pretty good as well. You know, the tiny little margins that you always have on a qualifying lap were probably there, but I didn’t have an answer for Max’s pace today. So ultimately, pretty happy. Would have loved a bit more, but we didn’t have it. Yeah. I mean, from where I’m sat, I need things to happen in the race to win the championship. So, I’ll wait and see if those things happen. I don’t think you need to have any discussions about things like that. One of us could win our first championship in F1—you’re obviously going to celebrate that.
“I think we’ve got more than enough respect between each other to appreciate the work of the person that loses tomorrow, and there’s going to be nothing but respect either way. Also, whoever’s on the losing side – it would be unfair to expect the person who’s won to not celebrate. So, I don’t think you need any conversations. I think we’re adults and got enough respect between us to know what’s right. I don’t know. Handshake would be good, probably. I don’t know. I haven’t… I don’t know what exactly is expected of me yet. But until either Lando or Max cross the line in front of me, I’ve still got a chance of winning the title. So yeah, we’ll see how the race pans out.”
Russell: “Obviously we were near the top of the leaderboard in Q1 and at the top in Q2, but those three around me were on the old tyres and they were matching my lap times. We knew they were going to be a step ahead, and I knew that I had to do something special just to even be in the fight. I wasn’t very happy with Q3 but honestly, anything higher than P4 was not really a possibility today so we’ll take it. I don’t think that we’re in the fight with those three again, but I can’t imagine Max is just going to sit there and let them all drive off into the sunset and finish 1-2-3. There could be opportunities – we’ll play it by ear. For sure, the team are going to be up all night making plans, but I’m pretty confident those plans are going to be pretty different by Lap 1, Lap 2, every single lap of the race. It’ll be an interesting one. It was more of a hint to Red Bull on their pitwall to sort of consider it. Max went early in Q3 Run 1, so he kind of was in a position to do that, and they obviously need somebody in the mix.
Leclerc: “It was very tricky but mostly that second lap in Q2 was very, very difficult to manage and to finish the lap. I was actually pretty happy that I finished it. On top of that it helped us to go to Q3. I was satisfied – it hurts to be satisfied with a P5 but at the moment that’s the situation we are in, and the only thing I can take is the little happiness whenever we maximise our car package. And I think that’s exactly what we’ve done today, but P5 is disappointing. I am not sure what to expect, we changed massively our car from FP2, so we couldn’t do any long run. It is a bit of a question mark. We experienced a little bit with the car, we did well because we would never have been P5 otherwise. Looking at tomorrow, I am not sure.”
Hamilton: “Definitely doesn’t help when you have missed your second run. But the car was feeling great. Just had some bottoming and then lost the back end. No, they just fixed the car. They saw some bouncing going in and they said that carried all the way through. It’s never helpful when you have less running, for sure, but everyone’s in the same boat. I don’t have the words to express how I feel, just a lot of pain. There’s not a lot I can do from there. Same thing every weekend for me, so give it my best shot. Not at the moment, no. I don’t have any plans for the moment. Time will tell.”
Tsunoda: “After that Antonelli collision, I had to revert back to the old floor, which, to be honest, cost my team a lot of performance into qualifying. So, I kind of expected it would be a difficult qualifying to get through Q3. Obviously, going through Q3 and helping Max was the baseline plan. But at the same time, I was a little bit worried about that, with that spec. I mean, it motivated me through, helped Max, which gave him a bit more confidence [with] second sets [of tyres] which was… reasonably happy with my job. Zero [practice]. I had more pressure moments, pressure or stress when I helped him in the tow, because I can’t be very close to Turn 5, can’t be very far. So yeah, it was very stressful, to be honest. But at least I nailed it, and they gave me some compliments. So yeah, I take it.
“It was very tight, ridiculous. But it has always been very tight…I mean with my pace, what I have shown in the last 5-6 races, I have always been close, always missing out because of very tight field. I mean in the end, you can’t control that, so I was only focusing to adjusting to new floor, maximising performance which was only focus. The moment where I was a little scared was in Q2 but I was able to make it through, I think I was reasonably happy with the balance, I think we did well as a team. I don’t know, you never know. But, yeah, I’ll do as much as I can to help him. Most likely it would probably compromise my strategy, but with his position, how he ended up, there’s still a chance to get a championship. So, I’ll do as much as I can. Yeah, let’s see.”
The Top 10 featured midfield F1 teams in numbers, as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso led the pack from out of nowhere. He pinned on the overnight changes which enabled him to extract more from the car. Teammate Lance Stroll made it in Q2, but couldn’t do anymore.
Another surprise Top 10 finisher was Haas’ Esteban Ocon, who revealed his down mood after Friday. He stated that they changed a lot of things on the car to be ready for F1 qualifying and the car transformed to his liking. He was much more confidence which showcased in the results.
Teammate Oliver Bearman missed out by 0.007s margin and pinned down the miss to lack of two sets of soft tyre in Q2. Likewise, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg pinned his fall in Q1 to mistiming in the final run. He was the last car out and had heavy traffic which derailed his chances.
Teammate Gabriel Bortoleto rose to the occasion to make it in Top 10 in a fine finish. In fact, he tied the qualifying trim to 12 all against Hulkenberg. Visa Cash App RB too saw one car in Q3 and other getting knocked out in Q2. Isack Hadjar said he extracted the maximum from the car in both Q2 and Q3.
Teammate Liam Lawson rued the conservative approach in Q1 by using three sets, which hurt his Q2 run. Williams’ Carlos Sainz missed out by 0.008s margin in the end, as he pinpoint Turn 9 as the corner where he lost most of the time when compared to his F1 rivals.
Alexander Albon couldn’t even make out of Q1 after he was unable to get the tyres in the right window, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly felt better in the car but didn’t have the pace still. Teammate Franco Colapinto didn’t feel the same as the Frenchman in his outing.
Alonso: “Extremely happy to finish Qualifying in P6. I am surprised by such a strong result on a circuit with so many low-speed corners, but it is clear the setup changes we made overnight worked well. Hopefully we can maintain this pace tomorrow and continue building momentum throughout the weekend. The aim is to secure some valuable points in the final race of the season.”
Hulkenberg: “Yeah, I don’t know. We just tanked it ourselves, I feel. I don’t know. We had a different run sequence than all the others, and the final run was obviously the crucial one and ended up being the last car, ended up with traffic on the out lap, couldn’t prep the tyres, ideally. And then had a lot of cars as well, I think, that already had finished their lap on my lap. Like, there was two cars parked at the apex of 6 which were, yeah, disturbing because you brake into it and they kind of half block the apex. That wasn’t great. And when it comes down to a few thousand, in these margins, in this field, that’s all it takes, really. I think it was, yeah, it [Q3] was possible. We needed to do a really clean job. But with that, I think it was a realistic target.”
Hadjar: “It was a decent day today. Compared to yesterday, I’m really happy as I definitely made a step up in my driving, which allowed us to find something special and get to Q3. In Q2, I put it all together and did a very good lap, which unfortunately I couldn’t repeat in Q3 as I didn’t find more grip. I have no regrets as I think P9 was our best possible result today, and we maximised what we had to do in a track that doesn’t suit our car as much as Qatar did. Tomorrow should be a one-stop race, but yesterday we noticed a higher track degradation than expected, so I think we’ll keep having a look at it and we’ll give our best to try and score points.”
Ocon: “We’re still unsure, but we’ve changed a lot of things on the car, all the parameters and the ones that you would not even think of really. Yeah, after yesterday I was at the lowest point, really and I didn’t know where to look, I didn’t know what to do. We were half a second of where we should be on a track where I’ve done a million laps and I didn’t know. So at this point, what do you do? So I said, ‘Yeah, driving bad. I’m pretty bad’, that’s how it is. But yeah, this morning we’ve changed everything and we’ve turned basically the car around. And the car suddenly, and we still have to figure out why but anyway it’s finished now. But suddenly it came to where it should be and I could compete. I was having some decent entry stability. I was not having the front and rear locking that I had in the previous 10 races. I could improve my driving with the car because there’s always the way where you’re entering a bit earlier than normal.
“So that’s why, your exit is not that good or that’s why your braking is not as good. But when the car allows you to do it, it’s, yeah, it shows today that we were able to fight again and honestly it feels great and I can’t thank the team enough for their support and for continuing pushing and from the support that. lt was giving me really, but there is still a lot of question mark, which I don’t know if we will answer, but yeah, today it paid off and yesterday was a complete disaster. it’s such a shame. It’s a big shame because I feel that we could have had a lot more points than what we had, unfortunately. But with a lot of if you can remake the world, but yeah, I think it’s good learning for us and we should keep going on that. And hopefully it’s a good foundation for next year, so.”
Bearman: “I think the part of quali that…well, the part that came undone was the fact that we carried one less soft than our competitors into quali. It meant that I did a used tyre run in Q2, run one, which, in quali, the used tyre was performing terribly. So then, onto the new tyre, I improved by five-tenths of a second, something crazy. And then grip level was much higher, and I just didn’t quite use all of it. I think we were very close to the potential of the car, but just missing out, I think we were half a…I don’t know, five milliseconds to get into Q3. So it’s really a case of one or two, tiny mistakes. But the lap was clean, just probably not using all of the, the available grip. Yeah, exactly. I think, I managed to do a good first lap because I was able to put the car on the limit straightaway maybe when others weren’t.
“The problem was in Q2, I did the lap on the used. I also aborted my Q1, run 2, because we were safe. We needed the tyre, so I kind of lost a lot of rhythm as well. And the lap was clean, I just needed that tiny bit more and it’s really nothing. The car has been very quick, but everyone has been incredibly close and even yesterday we were competitive, but one-tenth drops us by five or six positions and we fell a bit on the wrong side of that this afternoon, like you saw, it’s so incredibly tight. It’s not like we messed up the setup or messed up the lap. It’s just that we didn’t quite have enough by a hair.
Sainz: “I’m relatively happy with where we are today, as we made a good step from the practice sessions. It was one of the tightest sessions I remember, with only one tenth separating P6-P15 in Q2, and I unfortunately fell short by 0.008 of a second. Just the car, we have been really, really losing in Turn 9, losing 2-3 tenths to rest of the field just in one corner and when it is so tight and you lose 2-3 tenths in one corner, you then miss Q3 by 8 milisecond, you are frustrated. We managed to change the car quite a lot and improve it for quali but just not enough to be a solid Q3 contender and we fell short by eight thousands which can happen with the field so tight, it is just slipstream, dirty air here and there, losing time. For tomorrow, it’s looking to be on the limit between a one and a two-stop race, which can result in interesting strategies. I’m confident we can fight to make our way into the points, and the aim is to finish off the 2025 season strong!”
Gasly: “We did a great job overnight to improve the car and it felt like we made a good step from yesterday. The car was set-up well but today’s result is, quite honestly, just a reflection of our performance at this track. It was a very tight Qualifying throughout and we have been on the wrong end of a tenth or two to our competitors across the weekend so far. We had to go for it on the final run on Softs as we had the lap time deletion for track limits on my first run. I was very happy with my final lap, all the corners came together and that was really all we had in our hands. We have the final race of the season tomorrow. It is also the final race with our colleagues from Viry on the power unit side. I am very grateful for everything they have done especially in my Alpine career. We will give it our all for them and see what result we come out with at the end.”
Here’s how F1 Abu Dhabi GP qualifying panned out
Here’s F1 team bosses on title
Here’s F1 drivers on title
