Verstappen: No clue how good we're going to be in the race

Of course everyone has a clue what oill happen in the race! Verstappen will be hard to beat if his recent form is anything to go by. Unbeatable maybe and is, more than likely, going to win the 15th edition of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for a fourth season in a row.

The Red Bull triple F1 World Champion is on an unprecedented and daunting streak that makes him the favourite for every session he runs in. After missing FP1 for a rookie to drive his car on Friday, he struggled to find the sweetspot in practice until it mattered today in Qualifying.

At the end of the day, Verstappen was 0.139s faster than Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in P2, the pair at the sharp end of a very close field behind them, suggesting a Blue car chased by a Red car script, like it was in Las Vegas last weekend.

After claiming his 32nd F1 career pole position start, Verstappen said in Parc Ferme: "Very weird. The whole weekend so far has been a bit of a struggle. We definitely improved the car for qualifying and from lap one it all seemed a bit more together and we could definitely push more."

The triple F1 World Champion continued: "Around here already if you have little slides it can cost you a lot of lap time and that is what was happening in practice. But in qualifying it was a bit more connected.

"I have no clue how good we are going to be in the race, normally it's quite decent. It has been a very special season, we have been enjoying it a lot and we are very proud of what we have achieved so far this year," declared Verstappen.

In the sister Red Bull, Sergio Perez was anonymous and way off his teammate, pretty much the story of the season since Miami all those races ag0. The Mexican veteran was 0.726 down on his teammate in P1, ending the session P9.

Perez said in the RBR report from Abu Dhabi Qualy: "Things were looking really good, we had a very competitive Q1 and Q2, but unfortunately, we ended up not putting things together in Q3 and it made it worse that we got the lap deleted.

"It was a little bit of a disaster with the scrub set of tyres, we had an issue with the driveability and then unfortunately I got caught out by track limits. I had a moment coming out of turn one and that made it really difficult for me to get a lap together, it wasn’t a very clean lap in the end.

"No one really has much information on how they will perform in the race so we will see, as I always say, anything can happen," predicted Perez, who finished the 2023 F1 World Championship in second no matter what happens on Sunday. The first time Red Bull drivers have ended one-two in an F1 title race.

Red Bull F1 team boss Christian Horner reflected on the session in the report: “Final qualifying of the season and it was certainly a good one. Both drivers performed very well.

"Checo was unfortunate at the very end with track limits but its a good track to overtake here and he will take every opportunity tomorrow.

"For Max, it was a textbook drive, his 4th consecutive pole here, it's a great summation of his year. Obviously, this sets us up well as we head into our last race. It's been a phenomenal season so far, lets see if we can bring that home tomorrow," added Horner.

Red Bull have nothing left to win in a season in which they, with Verstappen doing most of the damage, have simply obliterated their rivals, scoring more than double what Ferrari and Mercedes scored all year with four drivers.

Indeed Verstappen scored more points than Mercedes have to date in a season of brilliance never before seen in this sport. As close to a perfect F1 season as possible for Red Bull. And it's hard to see Verstappen being beaten on Sunday at Yas Marina.

On Sunday, in a perfect world for him, Perez owes his RBR team a one-two to cap the greatest F1 season of his life and of their history.