Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying: Verstappen beats the McLarens, game on!
F1 NewsSaturday, 06 December 2025 at 16:05
Max Verstappen delivered a Championship-worthy performance to take the final pole of position of the 2025 Formula 1 season in Abu Dhabi.
That was classic Verstappen, refusing to give up and insisting on making the lives of his rivals, Norris and Piastri, miserable till the last moment possible, especially Norris.
While McLaren, Norris in particular came into Qualifying with an advantage especially in sector 3 of the track where the MCL39 really flexed its muscles, Verstappen quietly ramped up his speed through Qualifying to take pole, his eighth pole of the season which may also prove to be the most significant.
But a key element was Verstappen's ability to make Q3 on one set of used Soft tyres and keep one extra set for Q3 and with some help from he tow from Yuki Tsunoda, he was on provisional pole, as his first lap was good enough for pole.
But the reigning F1 Champion was adamant to stamp his authority and improved on the second lap to take pole by two tenths of a second, a massive gap in such a tight field. He did that without a tow mind you!
Norris, after all the promise he showed in practice, was only good for second as McLaren played it safe with their Qualifying executions going through tyres in Q1 and Q2 which gave their rival an advantage.
Piastri was third fastest in the sister McLaren, 0.029s behind his teammate.
As things stand, the only thing Verstappen can do is race to the win and hope for a bit of luck or an intervention from the Racing Gods in order to clinch his fifth consecutive F1 Drivers' Crown, but if they finish in this order, the Dutchman will not succeed in his mission.
Behind the top three, George Russell would be kicking himself for two mistakes in both his Q3 laps which cost him a possible front row start. He will start the race from fourth on the grid.
Once again, Charles Leclerc dragged a hapless Ferrari into the top ten and qualified fifth on a day when Lewis Hamilton, yet again, was eliminated in Q1.
Fernando Alonso delivered a feisty performance and will line up sixth on grid of Sunday's Grand Prix ahead of another superb performer, Gabriel Bortoleto, who was seventh in the Sauber, the final weekend for the team before they become Audi.
Esteban Ocon turned the tables on his teammate, Oliver Bearman, who was showing good form until getting knocked out in Q2. The Frenchman will start the race from eighth.
Isack Hadjar will start his final race with Racing Bulls from ninth on the grid as the man he will replace at Red Bull in 2026, Tsunoda will start from tenth after playing the best wingman role, giving Verstappen a tow.
What the top three said
After taking his 48th F1 career pole position, Verstappen explained his Qualifying approach; he began: "In Q2, I stayed on scrubbed tyres and those laps already felt quite decent.
"In Q3 around here, the track temperature is coming down and you know you can push more and that's what we did.
"We found a bit more lap time and I am incredibly happy to be in first," he added. "That's the only thing we can do, we can control, to maximise what we have and what we can with the car and we definitely did that in qualifying."
When asked about his Championship chances; he responded: "We will find out tomorrow. Let's see what we can do.
"I will try to win the race but also, in the back of my mind, we want to score a lot of points to still try and win that championship.
"We need a bit of luck with what's happening behind us," the four-time F1 Champion concluded.
"It's tough," a despondent Norris then said. "Max did a good job so congrats to him. We did everything we could. I think my lap was pretty good, I was pretty happy.
"Of course disappointed to not be on pole for the final weekend but we were just not fast enough today, so we will try and do it tomorrow."
Norris just needs to finish on the podium, and when asked how he will approach the race; he said: "The time will come I think of that but, for now, disappointed to not be on pole.
"I still want to win tomorrow so that's going to be the goal," the Championship leader concluded.
As for Piastri, who missed out on FP1 and had a lot of catching up to do, he commented: "The lap I did in Q1 was nice, to finally get into a rhythm for the weekend.
"The last lap in Q3 was pretty good as well - there wasn't a lot left in that. Just not quite quick enough but it sets up a pretty exciting day tomorrow.
"We will find out," was his answer when asked about the outcome of the race. "Max has looked quick in the long runs and clearly quick over one lap.
"Let's see how much pace is a factor tomorrow," the Aussie concluded.
Q1: Same sad story... Hamilton out!
With the sun setting on Yas Island, and the floodlights on, the final and most important Qualifying session of the 2025 F1 season began in cooler conditions as the track registered a temperature of 29 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 25 degrees.
The two Alpines followed by Lawson's VCARB and Hamilton in the Ferrari lined up in the pitlane waiting for the greed light to go on.
Hamilton was out on Mediums and went to the top of timing screens on his first attempt. Pierre Gasly also posted his first lap on Mediums. Franco Colapinto got his first lap deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 1.
"Felt like a decent lap," the seven-time F1 Champion reported, delivering a positive verdict on the repair job done on his Ferrari after his crash in FP3.
The Verstappen came along, and went to the top of the timing screens as Norris began his timed lap as well. Various drivers were on their first timed laps as well.
Norris went only third behind Alonso in second. Then Ollie Bearman went to the top as Piastri followed and went second fastest.
Antonelli went eighth as Russell came following and took the top spot.
Order after first run: Russell - Bearman - Piastri - Verstappen - Hamilton - Alonso - Norris - Liam Lawson - Nico Hulkenberg - Kimi Antonelli - Lance Stroll - Hadjar - Carlos Sainz - Tsunoda - Bortoleto.
In the drop zone: Ocon - Alex Albon - Leclerc - Gasly - Colapinto.
Colapinto had his second lap time deleted as well for breaching track limits. Gasly's second laps was deleted as well.
With less than five minutes remaining, the second run if Q1 began, and with that done, Piastri led the way with 1:22.605, 0.272s faster than Verstappen in second as Antonelli was third, 0.289s off the top time.
The rest of the top 15: Alonso - Leclerc - Norris - Sainz - Russell - Bearman - Lawson - Stroll - Ocon - Hadjar - Bortoleto - Tsunoda.
And another time, Hamilton was out of Q1, 16th fastest, missing out by 0.008s and was ahead of Albon who was 17th in the Williams.
Hulkenberg was 18th ahead of Gasly in 19th and Colapinto in 20th.
Q2: Bearman, Antonelli misses out!
Verstappen was eager to start his Q2 and drove down to the pitlane exit first, and waited there patiently for the green light.
The Red Bull man had the track for himself and went for a banker lap as the drivers soon started to follow him out on track kicking off Q2 in earnest.
Verstappen went fastest with a 1:22.912 as Ocon and Bearman went second and third. Sainz then went second fastest as Stroll went second.
Russell came along after that and went fastest (on new tyres) while Alonso slotted ahead of his teammate as Piastri and Norris started their bankers on used tyres.
Piastri went third behind Verstappen while Norris went ahead of the Dutchman. Verstappen then went again on the same set of used Softs. He improved and went second fastest.
Order after first runs was: Russell - Verstappen - Norris - Piastri - Alonso - Bortoleto - Stroll - Sainz - Ocon - Leclerc.
In the drop zone: Hadjar - Tsunoda - Antonelli - Bearman - Lawson.
With a little over four minutes remaining from Q2, the second round of laps began, and the drivers made their way out on track. Verstappen stayed behind.
In the end, Russell remained in the top spot with a lap time of 1:22.730, 0.022s ahead of Verstappen in second who opted not to run again. Norris was third, 0.074s off the pace.
The rest of the top ten: Alonso -Bortoleto - Leclerc - Hadjar - Piastri - Ocon - Tsunoda.
As for those who for eliminated, Bearman was the first, 11thh fastest, missing out by 0.007s and ahead of Sainz who was 12th in the Williams.
Lawson will start the race from 13th on the grid with Antonelli - complaining about the rear of his car - behind him in 14th. Stroll was 15th.
Q3: When in doubt...
Verstappen started his banker lap in Q3 on a set of new Softs which he save after running one time in Q2 and went on to post the fastest lap, a 1:22.295, as Red Bull played the team game with Tsunoda giving him a tow.
Then came Norris and went second fastest on scrubbed tyres while Piastri followed and went second ahead of his teammate. Russell came in on new tyres and went fifth after a mistake as he just managed to stay out of the wall with a beautiful catch.
Provisional pole for Verstappen as the rest followed: Piastri - Norris - Leclerc - Russell - Bortoleto - Alonso - Hadjar - Ocon - Tsunoda.
Ahead of he second runs, Russell asked Mercedes to send him out in a way he ends up behind Verstappen while on an in lap hoping to get a tow as this will disadvantage the McLarens.
The drivers kept it very late for their final runs, and Piastri started first as Norris followed him with Verstappen in their wake.
Both McLaren had decent first sectors but did not match Verstappen who improved his first sector.
Piastri went second place but Norris went and took that place from his teammate but neither could deny Verstappen on the day who took the final pole of the year.
Norris came second as Piastri will line up third on the grid for tomorrow's Grand Prix while Russell, again, survived a moment in the final corner to be fourth.
Leclerc was fifth fastest in the Ferrari ahead of Alonso in sixth as the driver the Spaniard managed, Bortoleto was seventh.
Ocon, Hadjar, and Tsunoda completed the top ten.
Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Provisional Classification
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