RED BULL SECURED FRONT ROW IN ABU DHABI

Max Verstappen scored his seventh pole position of the year as Sergio Pérez benefited from a tow from the world champion to secure a front-row lock-out for Red Bull Racing as the Mexican’s rival for P2 in the Driver’s Championship finished third.

At the start of the opening segment of Qualifying, Yuki Tsunoda set the early pace, but the Japanese driver was soon bring down by Leclerc who took P1 by almost a second. Sergio Perez then set lap for P1, but Verstappen was close behind his team-mate on track, though, and he crossed finish line to take P1.

The times of both were good enough to hold the top two spots until the end of the Q1, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc, while Lando Norris took fifth ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

At the other end of the timesheet there was no way through to Q2 for Kevin Magnussen, who went out in P16 ahead of Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas and Williams’ duo Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi.

In the opening runs of Q2, George Russell established the early benchmark,which was beaten by Sainz Jr.. Spanish driver set a lap ahead of Norris who also went quicker than the lead Mercedes AMG.

Verstappen then went almost two tenths clear of the Ferrari driver. However, Pérez was finding more time on his first run and after putting in the fastest middle sector he took P1. Hamilton then split the Red Bull duo eight hundredths of a second ahead of Verstappen who complained of a lack of grip.

In the final runs, Leclerc set a fastest first sector to rise above Hamilton as Pérez started his final flyer. The Mexican went over track limits in Turn 1 and his final time was deleted, but top spot in the segment remained in his hands.

Sainz Jr. took third place ahead of Verstappen while Hamilton went through in fifth ahead of Norris, Russell and Vettel. Esteban Ocon took ninth and Daniel Ricciardo claimed the final Q3 spot in P10.

His fastest lap of 1:25.068 was just enough to get him through and he edged Fernando Alonso out of the top 10 and the session by just under three hundredths of a second. Also out after Q2 were 13th-placed Yuki Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher, Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu.

In the first runs of Q3, Sainz Jr. set the early pace. Perez might have challenged that as he put in another fastest middle sector but a mistake in the final corner cost him time and he posted a lap 0.035s off Spaniard.

Verstappen, though, was flying and at the end of his lap he took provisional pole, almost three tenths clear of his rivals.

In the final runs, Verstappen headed out on track ahead of his team-mate, with the intention of providing a tow. And the champion delivered a strong final lap for Pole position and managing Perez to power through to the front row.

Mexican crossed the line just 0.040s ahead of Leclerc. Behind Charles, Sainz Jr. qualified in fourth place ahead of Hamilton and Russell. Norris finished in P7 ahead of Ocon and Vettel and the top 10 was rounded out by Ricciardo.