Qualifying number 22 of the Formula 1 season took place today at the Yas Marina circuit and what a finale we have in store tomorrow, as Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was able to take pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton will be on the front row alongside in second place. A brilliant Lando Norris is third for McLaren ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
All 20 cars were out on the circuit in the start of Q1. There was a short Red Flag period due to a bollard rolling around at the final corner after being knocked over by Mick Schumacher. The Ferrari cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were two of the first back on track upon the resumption of Q1, as both drivers qualified for Q2 on the medium tyre. The five drivers knocked out in Q1 were Nicholas Latifi, George Russell, Kimi Raikkonen, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
As always, the 10 drivers who made Q3 must start the race with the tyres they set their best Q2 time on. Everyone else has free choice of fresh tyres for start. Ferrari decided to go for the soft tyres for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, aware that the SF21 cars may not have had the pace to make it to Q3 on mediums, which on paper is the ideal tyre for tomorrow’s first stint of the race. Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez also played their strategy hand by using the softer compound in Q2, which commits both Red Bulls for soft tyres to start the race. Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Antonio Giovinazzi and Sebastian Vettel were knocked out in Q2.
In the final phase of qualifying at the Yas Marina circuit, Carlos Sainz completed a great run to take fifth place, ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas down in sixth. Poor sector 3 from Charles. Otherwise would’ve been P3. Unfortunately for Charles, a poor sector 3 time on his second run left him only in P7, despite the fact that his time could have been good enough even for P3 with a better sector 3 time.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Here are the complete results from qualifying ahead of tomorrow’s 2021 F1 World Championship decider at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Results (Classification):
Q3
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing -1:22.109
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.371
Lando Norris McLaren +0.822
Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.838
Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari +0.883
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.927
Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari +1.013
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1.111
Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.280
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1.300
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