Formula 1 News: 2025 Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Quotes

All ten Formula 1 teams plus tire supplier Pirelli provided quotes after qualifying for the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP Formula 1 race at Yas Marina Circuit.

Red Bull

– Max Verstappen
“It was a simply lovely qualifying. We did well the whole weekend, have been fine-tuning the car and then also made some final changes which helped the car a little bit. This allowed me to push a bit more to the limit and extract the most out of the car. We were improving nicely in qualifying and then found a little bit more lap time with the corners. The big question mark is can we keep up that pace in the race? Thank you to Yuki for the tow, it helped for sure, but it was nice of him to give up one of his laps. He was a great team player, so thank you for that. Tomorrow, the plan is to win the race and then we need a bit of luck to win the championship – it’s as simple as that. We will go all out and have nothing to lose, whether we need to attack or defend. The most important battle needs to happen tomorrow, and we need to outscore them by 12 points; we knew that if we wanted to be in the fight we had to be first. I have the least to lose and I am very relaxed. It is exciting to be on pole, but we just need a bit of luck for the rest of it and some Abu Dhabi magic.”

– Yuki Tsunoda
“Because of the pit-lane incident in FP3, we had to change back to the old floor on my car, which did compromise performance somewhat and was not ideal. I knew it could be difficult to get through to Q3 but I was able to do that. I have been able to help Max and that was always the aim – I am proud of that today. I will try to support Max as much as possible tomorrow; that is my goal and my main focus. It might not be a straightforward strategy but if I can help Max to win a fifth Drivers’ Championship, then that is the priority. The top 10 looks very tight, so let’s see what I can do.”

– Laurent Mekies, Team Principal
“It really was an amazing job from everyone today, from Max, Yuki and the team. Max could’ve taken pole on both his runs today he was that quick. We weren’t the fastest on track yesterday, but the car has really improved with each session to get into a great condition for quali this evening. Well done to everyone for having nailed the right window of the car which allowed us to extract everything from it. We managed to get both cars into Q3 which is great and Yuki did an excellent job on the first run with the tow he gave Max. Of course, there are no points on Saturday here, but we’ve given ourselves an opportunity to give it our all. Our full concentration and focus turns to maximizing everything we can from the car tomorrow, because we cannot control what happens behind us. Everyone here and in Milton Keynes has worked hard to be in this position, fighting for titles to the very end, so it is a privileged position to be in. Whatever happens tomorrow, it has been a sensational end to the year for us.”

McLaren

– Lando Norris
“We did everything we could do today, but just didn’t have the pace in the car for pole. I was happy with my lap, but I’m of course disappointed to not be on pole for the final weekend of the year. For tomorrow, we’ll focus on doing the best we can. As always, I want to win the race, so that’s the goal.”

– Oscar Piastri
“I felt like we maximized what we could today. I was happy with my Q3 laps; we just didn’t quite have the pace to answer Max. Our long-run pace looks okay, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I’ll focus on delivering the best race I can, and we’ll see what happens.”

– Andrea Stella, Team Principal
“The final qualifying session of the year is symbolic of the close displays we’ve seen from Lando and Oscar throughout the season. Overall, we can be reasonably happy with our performances as the drivers extracted everything from the car in what was an extremely tight session. We’re now in a strong position to fight for the championship tomorrow. We are aware that we’re not alone with very competitive drivers starting beside us on the first and second row. However, as a team, it is in our hands. We will make sure we maintain this strong position and execute our preparation at the highest level to be in condition to ensure the reward goes to a papaya driver at the checkered flag.”

Mercedes

– George Russell
“We were near the top of the timing screens in both Q1 and Q2, but we knew that Verstappen and the two McLarens had more pace to show come Q3. That turned out to be the case, and I think P4 was ultimately us maximizing the package we had this evening. Q3 didn’t go too smoothly on our side but I don’t think we were ever in the fight for the front row. Tomorrow’s race will be interesting with the three title contenders starting ahead of us. On ultimate pace, I don’t believe that our race is with them but there could be some strategic implications of that battle that open opportunities for us. We will be considering every eventuality that can help us gain positions and ultimately bring home the points we need to secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship. That is our only focus for tomorrow and, if we can do that, we can end the season on a high.”

– Kimi Antonelli
“Qualifying started well in Q1. I was happy with the balance of the car and was able to extract a decent lap time out of it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in Q2, and we were knocked out in what was a very tight session. That was a shame as I think we had the pace to be starting in the top six for tomorrow’s race. Despite tonight’s disappointment, we will refocus now for Sunday’s race. We will do our best to get back into the points and secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship for the team. Every point could be crucial so that is what my full focus is on. It is important for all of us that we achieve that and end the season on a positive note. Hopefully we can do that and I can end my rookie season in F1 on a high.”

– Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“Qualifying didn’t go quite the way we wanted today. P4 is an OK position to start but obviously P14 is less so. The car has been on a bit of a knife’s edge this weekend. At moments we’ve had good performance, but it’s been difficult to extract consistently. We saw that this evening where we topped Q2 but also had one car fail to make it through. The narrow gaps between all cars also meant that any small mistake was punished heavily. Despite having the three drivers who will be fighting for the title in front of him tomorrow, I am sure George will just be focused on driving his own race. He will be looking to end his season on a high and hopefully he can do that by getting on the podium. That will be the same with Kimi even though it will be a challenge for him to fight back into the major points-scoring positions. Let’s see how it all plays out though, and we will be ready to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way.”

– Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“The session was a bit of a disappointment considering that we’d shown good pace earlier today and in the opening stages of qualifying. George was the only car to get through Q1 on a single new set of soft tires and Kimi’s second push lap put him P3. For Kimi though, his session began to unravel in Q2. We didn’t change anything in our approach, but he started to get the odd snap which in turn caused high temperatures and compounded these issues. Unfortunately, he couldn’t reproduce his Q1 pace and finished the session in P14. George was quickest in Q2, once again on a single new set of soft tires but then had similar issues with a loss of rear grip in Q3. With the pace of Verstappen in the Red Bull and the two McLarens, P4 wasn’t a bad result. It was slightly frustrating given what we had seen earlier but if we have good race pace tomorrow, we can still score good points with both cars. That is our sole focus as we look to bring home P2 in the Constructors’ Championship.”

Ferrari

– Charles Leclerc
“I’m satisfied with my lap in Q3 and I don’t think there was much more to extract today. I feel that our team has done a really good job in turning things around this weekend. We made some changes on the setup between FP2 and FP3, and it paid off. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, to see if the changes we made will also help us to get ahead in the race. We can’t get our hopes up too high, because the cars ahead are very fast. It’s up to us to maximize our result tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to take action at the start and hope to bring home a last podium for our whole team this season.”

– Lewis Hamilton
“Clearly it wasn’t the result we were aiming for today. The team did a great job after FP3, in getting the car ready in time for qualifying, but a mistake in the last sector cost us. I know this track well and I’ll be aiming to deliver a more positive result for the team tomorrow.”

– Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
“Overall, we are happy with Charles’ result, as we had a very tough time in both Friday sessions and when it came to deciding on today’s setup we were quite aggressive and it paid off. For sure, if practice had been better then maybe we could have fought for an even better position, but it is what it is. Now, let’s see what happens tomorrow, let’s see what our race pace is like. It’s been difficult for Lewis, because he did not drive in FP1, having given up his seat to Arthur, and then came the crash halfway through FP3 and in this kind of situation where there are only two tenths separating P4 and P18 if you miss so much running, it’s too much to recover from. You can’t produce a performance based just on FP2. Now let’s focus on how to do the best possible for our team to get the best result to end the season well.”

Aston Martin

– Fernando Alonso
“Extremely happy to finish qualifying in P6. I am surprised by such a strong result on a circuit with so many low-speed corners, but it is clear the setup changes we made overnight worked well. Hopefully we can maintain this pace tomorrow and continue building momentum throughout the weekend. The aim is to secure some valuable points in the final race of the season.”

– Lance Stroll
“It was a super tight qualifying today and we were looking good for Q3, but missed it in the end by less than one tenth. I had a bit of a messy Turn 14 and lost time there on my final push lap in Q2 so that’s where it got away from us. When it’s that tight, a small margin makes a big difference so a good effort today, but would have hoped for a bit more.”

– Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer
“It was an exceptionally close field today in the qualifying session. Lance progressed into Q2, delivering a series of clean laps and narrowly missing out on a spot in Q3 by less than a tenth of a second. Fernando, meanwhile, advanced to Q3 and put in a strong performance to secure P6. We hope this puts us in a good position to score points in the final race of the season tomorrow – we will aim to maximize every opportunity.”

Kick Sauber

– Nico Hülkenberg
“It’s very disappointing – it feels we just tripped over ourselves today, especially as the car’s setup felt very good and there was the potential for a very good result. The run plan and sequence just didn’t work out: we were the last car out there. We waited long in the pit lane, which meant the tires were a bit too cold, and I hit a lot of traffic both on the out-lap and the timed lap. With the field as tight as it has been at the last few events, those small margins make a big difference, and we let it slip through our fingers. The potential in the car was there earlier in the weekend and even this morning, but we didn’t put it together in Q1 and made our lives very hard for tomorrow. Following and overtaking here are very difficult with this generation of cars, so starting from the back will be a challenge, but we’ll do what we can from there.”

– Gabriel Bortoleto
“It feels great to finish the season with a qualifying like this one. The whole session was incredibly tight: we were just a few thousandths away from being knocked out in Q1, then pulled out a mega lap in Q2 and kept it strong in Q3 as well. I think it’s been a really good performance today, one to be proud of, and hopefully we can turn it into a top-ten finish tomorrow – it would be a great way to wrap up the season. The car has been working well, and we’ve been making the right changes to keep up with the shifting conditions from day to night. It’s never easy, but we found a balance I was really happy with. Now, the goal is to hold our position at the start and try to make our way forward.”

– Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal
“First of all, I want to apologize to Nico. We got the run plan wrong today and that cost him dearly – there’s no excuse for that. On a more positive note, an enormous well done to Gabriel: to come to Q3 and qualify P9 in the final race of the season, in only his third Grand Prix weekend, is a fantastic achievement. The whole team is incredibly proud of what he has delivered this weekend and throughout his rookie triple-header. We now turn our attention to tomorrow: we’ll give both drivers the best possible strategy support they need to maximize whatever opportunities come their way.”

Alpine

– Pierre Gasly
“P7 is a strong result for us today and definitely our best qualifying of the season so far. The car felt great from the first lap in Q1 and we kept improving it session after session. I’m really enjoyed driving it tonight – everything clicked. Starting in the top ten gives us a good chance to fight for solid points tomorrow, which is the target.”

– Franco Colapinto
“It was a tough qualifying for me. I struggled a bit with the balance and couldn’t quite hook up a lap together when it mattered. P16 is not where we wanted to be, but the race is long tomorrow and anything can happen in Abu Dhabi. I’ll give it everything to recover as many positions as possible.”

Williams

– Carlos Sainz
“P8 today feels like a good result after the weekend we’ve had. The car has been tricky to drive, but the team did a great job with the setup changes overnight and we managed to extract the maximum in qualifying. Starting in the top ten tomorrow gives us a real opportunity to score points in the last race – that’s the goal.”

– Alex Albon
“It was a difficult session. We’ve been struggling with overall grip all weekend and unfortunately couldn’t find the lap time when it counted. P17 is disappointing, but we’ll analyze everything tonight and come back stronger for the race.”

Haas

– Esteban Ocon
“A solid P10 to round out my time with the team – I’m happy with that. The car felt good and we maximized what we had today. Tomorrow we’ll push hard for points one last time in these colors.”

– Oliver Bearman
“Tough day. I made a mistake on my final lap in Q1 and that cost us any chance of progressing. It’s frustrating to end the season like this, but I’ll learn from it and come back ready to fight tomorrow.”

Here is the final section of the article, starting with Racing Bulls and continuing through the last team – all quotes converted to full USA English:

Racing Bulls

– Liam Lawson
“P11 is okay – we were very close to making Q3. The car has been decent all weekend, just missing that final tenth. We’ll see what we can do from there tomorrow.”

– Isack Hadjar
“Not the qualifying we wanted. We had the pace for Q3 but a small mistake on my last lap dropped us to P15. Frustrating way to end my rookie season, but we’ll try to make up ground in the race.”

Pirelli
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“Congratulations to Max Verstappen, who sealed pole just when it mattered most. In qualifying, some drivers chose to keep new soft C5 tires for the quickest laps in the final Q3 session, even though we saw that used softs were still capable of setting fast times after a few cool-down laps.

Looking at the tire sets that the teams have kept back for the race, there are two different approaches. McLaren is the only team that has saved two sets of new hards, while most other teams – including Red Bull – have saved two sets of mediums. This shows that teams are keeping the possibility of two stops open, but only McLaren – the winners of the constructors’ championship this year – have gone for the most conservative option.

The two quickest strategies tomorrow are one-stoppers. One option is to start on the medium and switch to the hard between laps 20 and 26. An alternative is to start on the hard and then take advantage of the soft’s extra performance by stopping between laps 39 and 45.

A two-stop strategy seems to be a bit less competitive, especially given the difficulty of overtaking here. The best way to do it is with a combination of medium and hard for the first two stints, followed by a final stint on the medium – which in theory would be quicker for the run to the flag than the hard or the soft under these circumstances.

It’s not been possible to assess how graining has progressed from the short runs seen today, but there is no evidence of it so far this evening. Track evolution suggests that the situation will be better compared to Friday, especially thanks to the tire management that we expect from the drivers during the Grand Prix.”