F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Max Verstappen beats Charles Leclerc to pole position as Sergio Perez underwhelms
The world champion overcame a difficult FP3 to top all ✨three segments of qualifying with a dom♏inant performance under the lights at Yas Marina as he took pole for the 12th time in 2023, 0.139s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Oscar Piastri claimed a strong third in his McLaren, ahead of George𓂃 Russell, who was the fastest Mercedes driver on his way to securi🃏ng a spot on the second row of the grid in fourth.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was left to rue a mista🀅ke on his final Q3 lap as he ended up fifth, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who starred to claim an impressive sixth for AlphaTauri.
Seventh place went the way of Aston Marti🌼n’s Fernando Alonso, while Nico Hulkenberg took eighth in his Haas.
Sergio Perez struggled to match the pace of his Red Bull teammℱate and was a lowly ninth, 0.726s off Ver🦋stappen’s pole time, after having his best lap deleted for track limits.
Lewis Hamilton was only 11th-fastest as the Mercedes driver was knocke🐽d out in Q2 for the second consecutive weekend.
“There’s something not right with this car,” the seven-time world champion bemoaned over team radio🦩 af꧅ter failing to reach Q3.
An under-the-weather Esteban Ocon took 12th i🤪n his Alpine ahead of Aston Martin’s Lane Stroll, 𝄹Williams’ Alex Albon and AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Carlos Sainz suffered a shock elimination in Q1 as the Ferrari driver could only manage a time good enough 🃏for 16th, ahead of Kevin Magnu🍌ssen’s Haas and the Alfa Romeo pair of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
Fighting to retain his Williams drive for 2024, Logan Sargeant ended up slowest of all in 20th after having both of his flying 🍸l🅷aps deleted for track limits.
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