F1 News: Verstappen beats Leclerc to pole in Abu Dhabi GP

World Champion Max Verstappen led all three qualifying sessions in his Red Bull Honda to win pole for the Abu Dhabi GP with a lap of 1m23.445s

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Verstappen set his fast lap in his first run of Q3 and no one could beat it, though many tried.

Very weird, the whole weekend has been a bit of a struggle,” said a happy Verstappen.

“We improved the car for qualifying, and I was very happy to be on pole. I have no clue how good we will be in the race, normally we are quite decent. It’s been a very special season.”

Charles Leclerc came closest with a lap 0.139s behind the Dutchman in his #16 Ferrari while his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. was knocked out in Q1.

“Considering the weekend we’ve had until now, I did not expect it [2nd place] at all,” said Leclerc.  “The last lap, I had to put everything together. In Q1 and Q2 I was worried about going through, and in the end a front row which is amazing.”

McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was third quick 0.337s behind and just ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell.

Russell’s Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in Q2 as age appears to be catching up to the Brit.

“Difficult session, extremely tight this weekend. A bit of a messy one, lots of mistakes,” said Piastri.

“My final lap had a small mistake but it was a big ask to make the front row. I went into qualifying having not done a clean lap all weekend. Q1 messy, Q2 got it together finally, Q3 – happy with that, close by not quite close enough.”

Lando Norris blew his shot with the new tires right at the end due to a massive sideways moment at Turn 13 which cost him 0.4s and he ended up 5th.

Sergio Perez had his lap time for exceeding track limits and ended up 9th.

It was Verstappen’s 32nd career pole and 12th of 2023.

Gunning for a record 19th win in 2023, and aiming to take over 3rd place in career wins, Verstappen will be difficult to beat from pole, but that McLaren can’t be discounted, even if Norris gave up a few places with that mistake.

History shows that Verstappen is a master at managing his tires in the race.

Tsunoda has really thrown down the gauntlet, sixth on the grid for him in that upgraded car. Bring home points, and overhauling Williams is not out of the question. Ricciardo couldn’t match that performance, he’s 15th and that means Tsunoda seals their qualifying head-to-head 4-3.

Alex Albon is the first driver to out-qualify his teammate, Logan Sargeant, at every race since Max Verstappen out-qualified Albon at every race in 2020. Sargeant lost his two lap times for exceeding track limits as F1 driver Fred Vesti eyes replacing him in 2024.

Leclerc’s tire wear is an unknown, while Perez will be trying to fight back to the podium from ninth.

2023 Abu Dhabi Qualifying Results