Abu Dhabi GP: Max Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 in qualifying

Max Verstappen claimed his seventh pole of the 2022 Formula 1 season in a tight qualifying session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion dominated Q3 at Yas Marina though did appear to once again disrupt Red Bull’s plan to assist teammate Sergio Perez.

Even so, the Mexican managed to secure a place on the front row alongside the Dutchman ahead of the two Ferraris led by Charles Leclerc in third.

Q1

Verstappen only needed one flying lap to set the pace at the front as the two Red Bulls were the only cars to go sub 1m25s. 

A tense start to qualifying saw Sebastian Vettel at risk of elimination after his first run before a brilliant second lap saw the four-time world champion secure his place in Q2 in sixth.

Further down, a last-gasp improvement for Yuki Tsunoda dropped Kevin Magnussen down to 16th for Haas, while teammate Mick Schumacher eased through in 11th.

Pierre Gasly’s final qualifying with AlphaTauri ended in disappointment in 17th, ahead of Valtteri Bottas in 18th for Alfa Romeo.

Alex Albon had his best lap time deleted for track limits and he couldn’t improve enough on his second run as he finished 19th, fractionally faster than Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi.

Q2

Perez upped the ante in Q2 with a blistering first run on used tyres enough to top the times ahead of the two Ferraris.

Vettel continued his impressive qualifying making it through in eighth, setting the fastest Sector 1 time on both his laps.

A late flier from Lando Norris demoted Fernando Alonso into 11th in an incredibly close midfield as the Spaniard missed Q3 by just 0.028s.

Tsunoda claimed 12th ahead of Schumacher in 13th, Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu completed the top 15.

Q3

Verstappen responded to the pace of his teammate in Q2 by going three-tenths faster than anyone else on the first run.

Sainz was second, just ahead of Perez and Leclerc as a slide out of the final corner hurt the Mexican’s first attempt.

On the final laps, Verstappen’s initial time remained unbeaten and he would improve some more, setting a 1m23.824s to secure pole position.

Perez secured a Red Bull one-two in P2, just 0.04s ahead of Leclerc, his main rival for second in the Drivers’ Championship, in third.

Sainz took fourth in the second Ferrari with the two Mercedes’ fifth and sixth, Lewis Hamilton beating teammate George Russell by just 0.003s.

Norris finished ‘best of the rest’ in seventh, pipping Esteban Ocon in the Alpine. Vettel took ninth in his final F1 qualifying as Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10.

Full results from qualifying can be seen below: