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Christian Horner says Max Verstappen’s lap that took him to pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was one of the best of the season, but it is now up to the team to convert that into victory on Sunday and into the Dutchman’s maiden Drivers’ Championship.

Verstappen took his tenth pole position of the season at the Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday evening, with the current championship leader (on the basis of winning nine races in 2021 compared to Lewis Hamilton’s eight) ending more than three-tenths of a second ahead of his title rival.

The Dutchman benefitted from a tow from Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Pérez in setting his quickest lap time, and Team Principal Horner was delighted with the teamwork being completed by his two drivers when it really mattered.

“That was one of Max’s best laps of the year, but now we need to try and convert that tomorrow,” said Horner.  “Both runs in Q3 were exceptional and it was great teamwork from Checo to give him the tow like he did, it was worth a tenth or two, but not half a second.

“Max has given it his all and is driving his heart out, he’s thrown everything at it today. Credit has to be given to Checo, he has been a real dutiful team-mate and sacrificed his laps tonight, we can’t ask for more than that.”

Max Verstappen says there are no guarantees the pace he had during Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday will translate into a strong performance on race day, but the Dutchman put himself into prime position for his maiden Drivers’ Championship by taking pole position.

The Red Bull Racing driver benefitted from a well-timed tow from team-mate Sergio Pérez to give him top spot in Qualifying ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton, although his plan to start on the medium tyre disappeared after locking up his tyres on his first run in Q2.

Verstappen will start on the soft tyre, which should give him an advantage off the line but fall away earlier than the medium compound, but he hopes to be able to use the tyres to his advantage to secure his maiden title on Sunday.

“It’s always good to have a performance like this one today, but there are no guarantees for tomorrow, I still expect it to be a really hard battle,” said Verstappen.  “I originally planned to start on the mediums but I flat spotted my tyres so I had to go onto the softs, I actually felt okay on the softs during the long runs so hopefully it will work out tomorrow in the race.

“So far, the car has been good and throughout the practice sessions we made some good improvements to the car. I think everything worked out well, especially with Checo’s help, it was nicely executed. He’s a great team-mate and a real pleasure to work with so a big thank you to him.

Toto Wolff says Red Bull Racing have the advantage after Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but his Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team will be looking to come out on top when it matters on Sunday.

Max Verstappen took pole position at the Yas Marina Circuit and will lead the field to the start on Sunday afternoon, while Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will line-up second and sixth respectively for Mercedes.

Wolff, the Team Principal of Mercedes, says they will be doing their homework overnight to ensure they give Hamilton the best chance of taking his eighth Drivers’ Championship whilst also securing an eighth consecutive Constructors’ Championship.

“On days like today, you have to take it like it is, it’s 1-0 to them, they got the tyres in the perfect window in the last run, the tow functioned flawlessly and that’s why they are on pole,” said Wolff.

“I’m happy we’ll be starting on the Medium tyre tomorrow. We will have a slight disadvantage on the start I guess, and the first six or seven laps, but we can go longer, or also go for an aggressive undercut and try to control track position.

Lewis Hamilton praised Max Verstappen after the Dutchman took pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, although he says it is still game on for the title after joining his rival on the front row of the grid.

Verstappen edged out the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver by more than three-tenths of a second to take pole position, but whereas the Red Bull Racing driver will start on the soft tyre on Sunday, Hamilton will begin on the medium compound.

Hamilton says he could not get the time he needed to take pole position at the Yas Marina Circuit, but he will be doing everything he can to take what would be a record breaking eighth World Drivers’ Championship on Sunday.

“Well, firstly Max did a great lap today and we just couldn’t compete with that time at the end there,” said Hamilton.  “It was a fantastic lap from him but we’re in a good position, I’d like to think, with our tyres tomorrow and I hope that we can have a good race.

“On the first lap of Q3, I dropped a bit of time in the last corner and Turn 5, but my final lap was nice and clean, I just couldn’t go any quicker. I don’t know if it’s tyre prep or whatever it may be, in terms of the out lap, but nonetheless I couldn’t beat that time so he deserved the pole.

Yuki Tsunoda says this weekend in Abu Dhabi has seen him be more confident in the car across the whole of his rookie season, and he will start the final race of the season from eighth on the grid.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda had experience in a Formula 1 car at the Yas Marina Circuit, albeit around its previous layout, after participating in the young driver test with the team in 2020, and he has been on the pace all weekend long.

Tsunoda had one lap time wiped off for exceeding track limits during Q3, but he returned to the track to put his AT-02 onto the fourth row of the grid, and he is looking to end the year on a high by scoring a good amount on points on Sunday.

“It’s been a good weekend so far but I’m of course a little frustrated today, it’s such a shame about the track limits in Q3 as I think it was a good lap especially without a tow,” said Tsunoda.  “My confidence has really returned this weekend and it shows on track, it’s the most confident I’ve felt in the car since the first race in Bahrain, so that’s really positive.

“I’m really pleased with my Q2 lap and it means I’ll be starting the race on the Mediums, which is a really strong position to be in. It’s definitely a good way to finish the season, with a strong Qualifying, and I just have to put it altogether when it counts tomorrow.”

Max Verstappen clinched pole position at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the final race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Lewis Hamilton was in second position, 0.371 seconds slower than Verstappen. Lando Norris was in third position behind the two title rivals.

The qualifying session started under the lights with air temperatures at 26 degrees C and track temperatures at 30 degrees C at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C3), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C4), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C5), the softest compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

Q1: Räikkönen knocked out

Max Verstappen was among the first drivers on the track. The drivers went out on the soft compound tyres for their initial runs.

Lewis Hamilton topped the third free practice session at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was in second position ahead of Valtteri Bottas at the end of the final practice session.

The third free practice session (FP3) started at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi with air temperatures at 26 degrees C and track temperatures at 39 degrees C.

The qualification session starts as the sun sets and the track temperatures will be ten degrees cooler and the tyre behavior will be very different at that time.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C3), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C4), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C5), the softest compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

Mick Schumacher and Esteban Ocon were the first drivers on the track. Ocon set the first timed lap of 1m26.645s.

Great American Shortcourse‘s sophomore season will see an expanded schedule from 2021. After hosting eight race days across four weekends during the inaugural year, 2022 will have ten days of action in five total rounds, as well as the début of a special non-points race.

Before the season begins, the Off Road Race of Champions will take place on 1 February in Johnson Valley, California. Johnson Valley’s Means Dry Lake is the site of King of the Hammers, an annual and extremely grueling rock-crawling event organised by GAS co-operator Dave Cole‘s Hammerking Productions, and the lakebed is transformed into a temporary village called Hammertown during KOTH. The Race of Champions was announced in March as part of a collaboration with the Stadium Super Trucks in which certain 2021 GAS class champions would race against each other in stadium trucks, with the winner earning a full-time ride for the 2022 SST season.

It is not currently known if the partnership with SST is still in place as plans to host a joint championship weekend together at Lake Elsinore Diamond or Glen Helen Raceway in November fell through. Assuming SST’s involvement continues and the details outlined in the initial announcement remain the same, six classes will take part: Pro 2 (won by Dave Mason Jr.), Pro Lite (Christopher Polvoorde), Pro Buggy (Trey Gibbs), Production 1000 UTV (Dallas Nord), Production Turbo UTV (Chance Haugen), and Mod Kart (Connor Barry). Polvoorde is the only driver of the six with SST experience, having scored a podium Road America in 2019.

The season will kick off at a new site as GAS leaves California for the first time: Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona, on 19/20 March. Wild Horse has hosted a variety of disciplines including GAS’ spiritual predecessor Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Nitro Rallycross, also a series formed in 2021, raced at Wild Horse in mid-November. Wild West Motorsports Park in Nevada would have been the first non-California track for GAS had it not shut down in April, six months before GAS was scheduled to go there.

The remaining four rounds will take place at the same locations as last year. Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, host of the second and fourth weekends in 2021, will do so again on 14/15 May and 1/2 October. Many off-road series including LOORRS, NRX, and SST have raced at the San Bernardino track.

It was a fairly average start to the final round of the championship for Scuderia Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc ending the opening day at the Yas Marina Circuit in eighth, with Carlos Sainz Jr right behind in ninth.

For this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix all the drivers have had to get to grips with the brand new track layout, which has resulted in significantly quicker lap times. Leclerc went about his business and collected plenty of data for the team to look over ahead of qualifying and the race, the Monegasque driver ended the day eighth and almost +0.9s off the leading pace.

Leclerc enjoyed his first taste of the new layout, where he has found tyre degradation to be very high.

“I quite like the new layout and it was fun to drive. The modifications seem to make it easier to follow the cars ahead, so it appears to be a positive track update.
The track evolution was quite big over the course of the day, but that’s more down to the temperature as it becomes much cooler here in the evenings. This helps us to gain grip.

“Tyre degradation is quite high but I think our car is reacting well to this circuit so far. In terms of pace, we did a good job with the race simulation and still have a little work to do to prepare for qualifying. We are lacking a bit there compared to some of our closest competitors and I hope we can put it all together for tomorrow.”

Yuki Tsunoda enjoyed one of his best Fridays of his rookie Formula 1 season as the Japanese racer placed inside the top seven in both sessions at the Yas Marina Circuit.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver ended an encouraging fifth in the morning, and although he slipped to seventh in the evening’s running, he was pleased with his day, and it gives him confidence for the rest of the weekend.

Tsunoda feels the opportunity to run in the young driver test in Abu Dhabi in 2020 prior to his Formula 1 debut has given him a boost heading into this weekend as it was not a completely new track to him, and although a few sectors have changed since 2020, he goes into the rest of the weekend aiming high.

“I’ve already driven here for the Young Driver Test last year and of course knowing the track beforehand always helps with my approach to the weekend, which hasn’t always been the case this season,” said Tsunoda.  

“I’m really enjoying the new layout of this circuit, we’ve still got some things to work on but I think the pace so far is quite good. We’ve got a lot of data across the two cars, so we’re in a good position to continue to improve tomorrow.

Max Verstappen says the new layout at the Yas Marina Circuit is a lot more fun to drive than its predecessor, but there is still work for his Red Bull Racing team to do if they are to be competitive this weekend.

Verstappen topped the first session in Abu Dhabi on Friday afternoon but was more than six-tenths of a second off title rival Lewis Hamilton in the evening as the Dutchman looked to get to grips with the track under the floodlights.

Ahead of his most important weekend of his career as he bids to win his maiden World Championship, Verstappen says the long run pace of his RB16B looks strong, but they need to address the shortfalls over one lap.

“I like the new track layout, it’s more fun to drive with the faster corners, especially in the last sector,” said Verstappen.  “We made a few changes to the set up across the two sessions and I do think they are positive.

“We are still learning and understanding a few things. The short runs didn’t go to plan, we are lacking a bit of pace but I think the long runs were more competitive so that’s important.

Esteban Ocon says he remains realistic about the pace of the Alpine F1 Team this weekend in Abu Dhabi despite setting the second fastest time during Friday evening’s practice session.

Having ended eleventh fastest in the first practice earlier in the day, Ocon showed Alpine have a good car at the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season as he ended second, only behind Lewis Hamilton, around the new layout of the Yas Marina Circuit.

Ocon says the aim on Saturday is to get both cars inside the top ten in Qualifying, but he expects the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez to move ahead.

“It’s been quite a productive Friday learning the new Abu Dhabi layout, which proved to be quite challenging in many aspects,” said Ocon.  “I had a close call in FP1, similar to where Kimi went off in FP2, so you have to be careful pushing the limits there.

“Some of the new parts are quite tricky, so it’s important to keep getting dialled into these corners. Some of the areas on the track with new tarmac are interesting and learning the changes there will be important in understanding how the tyres behave.

Lewis Hamilton started the weekend where he can clinch a record-breaking eighth World Drivers’ Championship in good form as he set the fastest time overall during Friday practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver was only third fastest in the morning session at the revised Yas Marina Circuit, although he did lose his best time to track limits.

However, he ended the evening session under the floodlights with the quickest time overall, more than three-tenths faster than Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon, and more than six-tenths ahead of title rival Max Verstappen.

Looking ahead to the rest of the weekend, Hamilton says Mercedes will work hard overnight to perfect the set-up as he expects a close battle at the front of the field between them and Red Bull Racing.

“It’s been a decent day, I like the changes they’ve made to the track – it’s made it free-flowing and more enjoyable,” said Hamilton.  “It’s obviously close between us all and a little unknown in terms of relative pace but I’m sure it’s going to be super close, as it has been in the previous races.

Lewis Hamilton topped the second free practice session at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon finished in second position ahead of Valtteri Bottas at the end of the session.

Max Verstappen finished in fourth position, 0.641 seconds slower than Hamilton. The Dutchman had good race pace on the longer runs even though he did not have the one-lap pace.

The second free practice session (FP2) started at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi under the lights. The temperatures dropped as the sun set and air temperatures at 25 degrees C and track temperatures at 30 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C3), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C4), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C5), the softest compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

This was an important session as the session is held at the same time that qualification and the race will be held and the conditions are similar.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing have announced an exciting two-car slate for the 2022 Indianapolis 500, with two young stars in the form of Sage Karam and Santino Ferrucci behind the wheel of the No. 24 and 23 cars respectively in next year’s iteration of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Karam has raced in the Indy 500 with DRR since 2014, with two top-ten finishes including a seventh-place effort last season. Ferrucci has never finished outside of the top ten in his three attempts from 2019 to 2021, where he finished just ahead of now-teammate Karam in sixth as a part of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Team newcomer Ferrucci stated how excited he was by the hard-working nature of the team.

 “Nothing is better than being a part of a team that has such a high work ethic,” he said.

“The team’s attention to detail is comparable to top teams in the series.”