Max Verstappen clinches crucial pole position at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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.

Verstappen went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m23.680s, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Sergio Pérez.

Hamilton went to the top with a 1m23.266s lap, 0.414s faster than Verstappen. Bottas slotted into second position, just 0.101 seconds slower than Hamilton.

Verstappen then displaced Bottas as he went just 0.056 seconds slower than Hamilton. Lando Norris ran over a bollard that was knocked out by Mick Schumacher on his way to fourth position.

The session was red-flagged to retrieve the bollard with six minutes and twenty-five seconds left.

In the dying minutes of the session, Hamilton further improved with a lap time of 1m22.845s and Bottas was in second position.

Kimi Räikkönen was knocked out in Q1 in his last Formula 1 race. The Finn was one of the fastest drivers in his heyday.

Q1 dropzone: Nicholas Latifi, George Russell, Kimi Räikkönen, Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin

Q2: Vettel and Alonso Eliminated

Most of the drivers went out on the medium compound tyres as this is the preferred tyre to start the race.

Hamilton set the benchmark with a 1m23.185s lap. Verstappen was just 0.004 seconds slower and Bottas was 0.061 seconds slower than Hamilton.

Tsunoda slotted into fourth position ahead of Norris. Carlos Sainz on the soft compound tyres went to the top of the time charts, 0.011 seconds faster than Hamilton.

Verstappen flat-spotted his tyres as he ran wide and that was not good news as he had to start the race on those tyres.

Verstappen topped the session ahead of Pérez as both Red Bull Racing drivers set their fastest laps on the soft compound tyres.

Q2 dropzone: Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Antonio Giovinazzi, Sebastian Vettel

Q3: Verstappen takes pole position

The last all-important twelve minutes of the top ten shootout started with pole position being contested by Hamilton and Verstappen.

The Red Bull Racing drivers were the first drivers on the track with Pérez leading Verstappen on to the track. Pérez gave Verstappen a perfect slipstream and jumped out of the way as Verstappen posted a lap time of 1m22.109s to take provisional pole.

Hamilton was 0.551 seconds slower as Red Bull pulled a blinder of a strategy on their rivals. Hamilton went faster on his second flying lap but that was only good enough for second position.

Norris finished in third position ahead of Pérez to set the stage for a very important race tomorrow.

Top 10: Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Sergio Pérez, Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Daniel Ricciardo

2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualification Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat,	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1:23.322	1:22.800	1:22.109	20
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:22.845	1:23.145	1:22.480	19
3	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:23.553	1:23.256	1:22.931	20
4	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1:23.350	1:23.135	1:22.947	24
5	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:23.624	1:23.174	1:22.992	22
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:23.117	1:23.246	1:23.036	20
7	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:23.467	1:23.202	1:23.122	23
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:23.428	1:23.404	1:23.220	22
9	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1:23.764	1:23.420	1:23.389	20
10	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1:23.829	1:23.448	1:23.409	19
11	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	1:23.846	1:23.460		12
12	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:23.489	1:24.043		16
13	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1:24.061	1:24.066		17
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	1:24.118	1:24.251		17
15	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1:24.225	1:24.305		18
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:24.338			8
17	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1:24.423			7
18	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	1:24.779			8
19	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1:24.906			9
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	RAF	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1:25.685			9