In the qualifying session for the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix, Max Verstappen secured pole position with a time of 1 minute 23.445 seconds. Charles Leclerc from Scuderia Ferrari and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the top three. Alfa Romeo F1 Team’s Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou finished 18th and 19th respectively in the qualifying. The top ten qualifiers were Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez, and Gasly.
In Q1, the gaps between teams were incredibly tight, with only 0.4 seconds separating Verstappen in first from Gasly in 15th. The top three in Q1 were Verstappen, Perez, and Tsunoda, while the five drivers eliminated were Sainz, Magnussen, Bottas, Zhou, and Schumacher. Sainz faced severe traffic issues, resulting in his elimination, Zhou locked up in his second flying lap, losing any chance to improve, and Schumacher’s times were canceled due to track limits violations in both sprint laps.
In Q2, all drivers significantly improved their Q1 times. Hamilton narrowly missed out on Q3 by 0.081 seconds, expressing concerns about his car’s behavior over team radio. The drivers eliminated in Q2 were Hamilton, Ocon, Stroll, Albon, and Ricciardo, with the top three positions claimed by Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc.
In Q3, Leclerc managed to improve his time to second place in the closing stages. Verstappen, from Red Bull Racing, claimed pole with his initial lap of 1 minute 23.445 seconds, while Piastri was 0.337 seconds behind in third. Perez’s last-lap effort was disallowed due to track limits, securing him ninth place overall.