The double world champion achieved the last pole position of the Formula 1 season in Abu Dhabi this Saturday, ahead of his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Pérez.
The Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix will have a well-ordered starting grid. First row for the Red Bull, second for the Ferrari and third for the Mercedes. max verstappen, world champion for a month and a half, also caught the last pole of the course in Yas Marina. Your partner Checo Perez and Charles Leclerc, who will fight this Sunday for the runner-up, will come out second and third. Among the Spanish, Carlos Sainz it will be fourth and Fernando Alonso, 10th. The Asturian did not manage to get into Q3 in his last qualifying with Alpine, but he advances one position due to the sanction against ricciardo.
Max Verstappen reiterated the good weekend for the Red Bulls with a time of 1:23.824 on his last lap. The Dutchman’s time prevented the commissioners from having to work too hard, since the previous fastest lap was in doubt due to a possible (very slight) run off the track. It was one more example of his dominance: he was the only driver to go under 1:24 in the session, and he did it twice. In that second, in addition, offering slipstream to Checo Pérez, who after having dominated the previous sessions could not fasten pole position.
“It’s been a great team effort,” said Max Verstappen, and he almost sounded convincing. The mention was not free, as he is still kicking the final of the Brazilian Grand Prix, where he refused to let himself be overcome by Pérez to help him score points for the runner-up. This Sunday’s grid will be the most comfortable for him in that sense: him in front and Pérez’s fight with Leclerc behind. At least initially, you will not be forced to lend a hand. To be runner-up, it is enough for the Mexican to stay ahead of the Monegasque and so far his feelings have been very good.
last failure
For his part, Carlos Sainz will start fourth in the starting drawing. The man from Madrid started Q3 very strong, marking the first two sectors in purple and only had to regret a mistake in the last one. However, he couldn’t match the pace of his teammate, who was 15 hundredths faster.
Worse luck ran Fernando Alonso, who was left out of the last round. The Spaniard, not very fine in general terms, had already narrowly missed the first cut and fell in a very even second round. The last car to reach the finish line, Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren, surpassed him by 28 hundredths. Precisely the Australian carries a three-place penalty from Brazil and will allow Alonso to move up one position on the grid.
“It has not been a good time trial. Already in Q1 I have gone to the limit and in Q2 [he quedado fuera] by a few thousandths, but hey, that’s what we had today”, lamented Fernando Alonso after the session. “We started 10th, so we’re already in the points. We will try to make a good strategy, because we have two hard ones and the others only have one. I think finishing seventh or eighth this Sunday is still the goal.”
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