Verstappen on pole for Abu Dhabi F1 title decider but Norris hot on his heels

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a vital first step in attempting to clinch the world championship in the decisive season-finale at Yas Marina.

His title rivals – McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – took second and third in a competitive and tense qualifying session, with the protagonists in three-way title fight duking it out for the top spots on the grid.

Norris still holds the advantage as they enter the final rubber. Leading the championship, he is 12 points in front of Verstappen and 16 clear of Piastri. Norris will claim his first F1 title and become the 11th British driver to do so if he finishes in at least third place or in front of his two rivals. Verstappen’s best hope is to win and hope Norris finishes outside the podium places. Piastri would need to win and have his teammate finish sixth or lower.

Lando Norris (left) with pole sitter Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. The McLaren driver still holds the advantage as they enter the final race. Photograph: David Davies/PA

Norris has been in impressive form all weekend, topping the time sheets in two of the three practice sessions and second to George Russell in the third. He looked comfortable and confident with the performance of his car at the track where he won from pole last season. However, Verstappen had pushed him hard, with the Red Bull too enjoying good form in Abu Dhabi and he found pace when it mattered with two exemplary laps.

Verstappen opened the first runs in Q3 leading the times with two huge opening sectors and with a mighty lap and a tow from his teammate Yuki Tsunoda he was quickest in 1min 22.295sec. Norris followed on scrubbed tyres but was four-tenths back on the used rubber, Piastri was three-tenths back from the Dutchman.

The final runs as the track reached its grippiest were tense. The McLarens had new rubber, while once more Tsunoda gave Verstappen a tow. Piastri was the first of the McLarens and had a good first two sectors as did Norris as they looked to the third to make up the time. However, Verstappen too was improving,going even quicker at 1:22.207. Norris claimed second two-tenths down and Piastri third just three-hundredths back from his teammate.

Verstappen has eight poles this season, the most by any driver, a remarkable feat given how far off the pace the Red Bull was for more than half the year.

Norris had survived one big scare in final practice on Saturday, when he was forced to swerve and go off track when he came up behind a slow-moving Tsunoda on the exit of turn 11, with the Japanese driver waving his hand in apology for loitering at slow speed on the racing line.

The British driver knows his destiny in his own hands and wants to close it out with a win, leaving nothing to chance. But with Verstappen out front, staying out of trouble – even if the Dutchman disappears into the middle distance – will be enough.

Lewis Hamilton crashed out in third practice, after an element of the car broke causing him to lose the rear and spin off to take a major impact, nose-first into the barriers at turn nine. “Something buckled at the front and snapped the rear,” he told the team.

Ferrari did repair the car for qualifying but the British driver could manage only 16th place, out in Q1 again after he made a small error in the final sector. “Every time, mate, I’m so sorry,” he said to his race engineer.

Another afternoon of toil now awaits him to see out what has been his worst season in F1. Hamilton is in sixth place in the championship and has still yet to take a podium across the season for the first time in his career.