Monitoring Desk
\nABU DHABI
\nMax Verstappen denied Mercedes a final front-row lockout of the season by snatching pole position in the dying seconds of Saturday\u2019s qualifying for the year-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
\nThe Dutchman steered his Honda-powered Red Bull around the 5.5km-long Yas Marina circuit in one minute, 35.246 seconds edging Mercedes\u2019 provisional pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas by just 0.025 seconds.
\nWorld champion Lewis Hamilton, back in the car after his COVID-19-enforced absence at last week\u2019s Sakhir Grand Prix, was third but only 0.086 seconds off the pace.
\n\u201cI said before I went into qualifying, it\u2019s going to be the final send of the season and we did that,\u201d said Verstappen after taking his third career pole and first this season.
\n\u201cThe whole year when you\u2019re behind getting closer, it\u2019s getting sometimes a bit frustrating.\u201d Verstappen\u2019s dazzling display under the floodlights means it will be only the second time in 17 races this season that Mercedes haven\u2019t started from the front.
\nIt was also the first non-Mercedes pole position of the season with Lance Stroll\u2019s qualifying-topping effort in Turkey set in his Mercedes-powered Racing Point, and only the fourth time this season that Hamilton and Bottas haven\u2019t locked out the front row.
\n\u201cThe main issue was we couldn\u2019t really get the soft tyres to work properly as it should,\u201d said the 31-year-old Bottas. \u201cThe balance was not quite perfect.\u201d Hamilton, who has taken 10 of Mercedes\u2019 15 poles this season, said he still wasn\u2019t back to full fitness after only just having recovered from COVID-19.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s definitely been a difficult weekend,\u201d said the 35-year-old Briton. \u201cIt just felt like you\u2019ve lost that momentum and really struggled so far with the balance this weekend.\u201d
\nVerstappen had headed a Red Bull one-two from Alexander Albon in Saturday\u2019s final practice session. But Mercedes were expected to strike back come the qualifying hour. Hamilton led Bottas in the first two parts of qualifying, with the pair looking like favourites for a front-row lockout.
\nVerstappen, however, showed his speed as the final shootout got underway, splitting his Mercedes rivals after his first run, before posting the lap that deposed Bottas and Hamilton from the top of the timesheets.
\nLando Norris was an impressive fourth for McLaren, winning the team mate qualifying battle at McLaren against Ferrari-bound Spaniard Carlos Sainz who was sixth. Charles Leclerc was ninth for Ferrari but the Monegasque will drop three places on the grid due to a penalty for causing a collision at the last race in Sakhir.
\n Sebastian Vettel was knocked out in the second phase of his final qualifying session for Ferrari. The German, moving to Racing Point which is rebranding to Aston Martin next year, was 13th. Sergio Perez, making way for Vettel at the Silverstone-based team, will start at the back of the grid. The Mexican, who became F1\u2019s newest winner last weekend in Sakhir, is carrying engine-related penalties and did only a warm-up lap in the second phase of qualifying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monitoring Desk ABU DHABI Max Verstappen denied Mercedes a final front-row lockout of the season by snatching pole position in the dying seconds of Saturday\u2019s qualifying for the year-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Dutchman steered his Honda-powered Red Bull around the 5.5km-long Yas Marina circuit in one minute, 35.246 seconds edging Mercedes\u2019 provisional pole-sitter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n