Red Bull’s Max Verstappen stunned Mercedes to snatch pole position for 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, ending the Silver Arrows’ Qualifying dominance of this race in the hybrid era.
Verstappen snatched pole by just 0.025 seconds from Bottas as Hamilton returned this weekend from his bout of Coronavirus to qualify third whilst McLaren put themselves in a good position to snatch third from Racing Point in the Constructors championship fight.
Despite FP3 and Qualifying being held in contrasting conditions, Verstappen however topped both sessions to claim his third pole in F1 so here is a full roundup of both FP3 and Qualifying.
FP3
A quiet start to the day’s running saw nobody opt to run in the opening 17 minutes before Williams’ Nicholas Latifi headed out ahead of both Haas and Alfa Romeo cars, as everyone soon filed out onto the circuit with majority on soft tyres.
Latifi set the first benchmark time of a 1m 39.812 which was soon bettered by Antonio Giovinazzi on 1m 39.190 ahead of Russell by 0.308s, with Bottas soon bettering the Italian’s time until Verstappen posted a 1m 37.175 to set the pace in the 27th minute.
Verstappen then found further time eight minutes later to lower the quickest lap to a 1m 36.734 to lead Hamilton, Alex Albon, Bottas and Lando Norris heading into the soft qualifying simulations.
Both Mercedes drivers opted to go early with Hamilton getting closest on a 1m 37.012 before Verstappen encountered on his first soft quali simulation run, which saw the Dutchman wind up 0.011s shy of his quickest overall time before improving next time out with a 1m 36.251 to top the session in hot conditions.
Albon meanwhile complained of “insane” understeering throughout his outlap but eventually pulled a strong lap together to put the Thai second fastest ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon, as Norris, Hamilton, Lance Stroll, Sainz, Bottas and Perez rounded out the top ten.
Qualifying
Q1
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen set the early benchmark of 1m 38.086 but times soon began to tumble as more drivers ventured out for their first runs, as Albon went quickest with 1m 36.106, only for Bottas to go quicker on a 1m 35.699 as Hamilton’s first lap was deleted for running wide out of Turn 20.
With four minutes left of the session, Magnussen, Pietro Fittipaldi, Russell, Latifi and Giovinazzi were in the elimination zone but only Giovinazzi escaped, dropping Kimi Raikkonen out of qualifying in 16th ahead of Magnussen whilst Russell outqualified Fittipaldi as Latifi qualified at the back.
Magnussen however will start from the rear on the grid after taking power unit penalties where he will be joined by Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.
Up front, Hamilton topped Q1 on his final flier with a 1m 35.528 to advance into Q2 after his second attempt put him seventh quickest.
Q2
Mercedes, Red Bull, Renault and Ferrari all opted to send their drivers out on mediums for their opening runs whilst McLaren split strategy with Norris on mediums and Sainz on the softer tyre.
Hamilton topped the session on his first medium tyre timed lap with a 1m 35.466 from Bottas whilst Verstappen found himself fifth fastest and Albon saw his time deleted for making the same error that Hamilton did in Q1 and saw his first lap time deleted.
That mistake also saw Albon find himself sat in the elimination zone behind Ocon and Giovinazzi but crucially ahead of Ricciardo and Perez, with Ricciardo’s first effort wiped for running wide at the final corner whilst Perez only did an outlap as he was starting at the back anyway.
Albon consequently switched to softs whilst Verstappen stayed on mediums with both Red Bulls making it through at the flag into Q3 as both Renault cars of Ocon and Ricciardo were eliminated but Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was only 13th quickest after final runs ahead of Giovinazzi.
Q3
Everyone quickly filed out onto the track for their opening runs with Bottas finding himself quickest on a 1m 35.415 ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton and Albon, whilst Sainz and Norris looked set for third row lockout ahead of Stroll, Leclerc, Kvyat and Gasly.
Kvyat was first to improve on his final run and went an eventual seventh quickest ahead of Stroll, Leclerc and Gasly, although Leclerc will start 12th after picking up a three place grid penalty last Sunday in Bahrain.
Up front, Hamilton improved to a 1m 35.332 only for Bottas to go faster by 0.061s and seemingly clinch pole until Verstappen snatched it at the death with a stunning final sector, ultimately securing the first non Mercedes powered pole of this season on a 1m 35.246 which was 0.025s quicker than Bottas’ effort.
Norris managed to find time on his final lap to put his McLaren fourth on the grid ahead of Albon as teammate, Sainz, qualified sixth to put McLaren in a good position to try and snatch third in the Constructors from Racing Point tomorrow as Stroll starts eighth and Perez is at the back.
Results
FP3
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 36.251 |
| 2 | Alex Albon | Red Bull | + 0.501 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | + 0.626 |
| 4 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | + 0.648 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.743 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.761 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | + 0.779 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | + 0.817 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.834 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | + 0.976 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | + 1.015 |
| 12 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.019 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.120 |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | + 1.477 |
| 15 | George Russell | Williams | + 1.635 |
| 16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1.649 |
| 17 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 2.018 |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.206 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.514 |
| 20 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Haas | + 2.908 |
Qualifying
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 35.246 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.025 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.086 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.251 |
| 5 | Alex Albon | Red Bull | + 0.325 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | + 0.569 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | + 0.717 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | + 0.800 |
| 9* | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.819 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.996 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1m 36.359 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | + 0.047 |
| 13 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | + 0.272 |
| 14 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1.889 |
| 15** | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | No Time Set |
| 16 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1m 37.555 |
| 17** | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.308 |
| 18 | George Russell | Williams | + 0.490 |
| 19 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Haas | + 0.618 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 0.888 |
*Charles Leclerc will start from 12th after collecting a three place grid penalty for causing a collision in the Sakhir GP.
**Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen will start at the back after taking new power unit components this weekend exceeding their permitted limits.
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