© Getty ImagesTop 10 qualifying for the Bulls In Abu Dhabi - ReportThe Bulls roar into the top 10 as Abu Dhabi sets the stage for the grand finale. In a fiercely competitive qualifying session, the team has positioned itself for a thrilling end to the season.
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HearMax'sandCheco'sthoughtsonQualifying:
With both drivers struggling with balance issues on Friday, the final practice session was all about bringing the RB20 into a better window for qualifying and Max spent the first part of FP3 on Medium tyres. And with improvements made to the car early on, the Dutchman slotted into P2 in the midst of a host of Soft tyres runners. Checo, meanwhile, spent the early part of the sessions fact-finding on the C5 Soft compound rubber.
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At the start of the session, Checo led the Bulls out on track and he took top spot with a lap of 1:23.559. The Mexican’s opener was quickly deleted for an excursion beyond track limits in Turn 1 and he plummeted down to P19 ahead of Williams’ Franco Colapinto who also had his opener deleted.
Max was next across the line and the champion briefly took top spot with a lap of 1:23.516. That was swiftly beaten by Carlos Sainz who went a little under three hundredths quicker, while Haas’ Kavin Magnussen put in a strong lap to move to P3 ahead of the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
With a little over four minutes remaining Checo headed out on track again, with Max exiting the garage a minute later. As Checo worked his way through his out lap, however, Race Control reinstated his opener, which vaulted the Minster back up to P3, though he was understandably frustrated to have “wasted a set” of Softs with his second run.
The final runs saw scattered improvements across the order, with Charles Leclerc taking top spot ahead of the uncharacteristically quick Sauber of Valtteri Bottas and Sainz. Max eased through in fourth place, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Checo, thanks to his reinstated opening time, made it onto Q2 in sixth place.
The major faller at the first hurdle was Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver ran over a bollard dislodged by Magnussen, and with it lodged in front of his floor Hamilton lost pace and qualified in P18. Also ruled out in Q1 were Williams’ Alex Albon and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu in P16 and P17 and Colapinto in P19 ahead of Alpine’s Jack Doohan.
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Max led the field out on track at the start of Q2 and the champion duly took top spot with a lap of 1:22.998, three tenths up on Leclerc’s Q1 best. Norris slotted into second place, a tenth off the lead but on used tyres, with Piastri in third ahead of VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda. Checo, meanwhile, took P9 with his opening run, posting a lap of 1:23.824. That was almost three tenths off his Q1 best, but the Mexican was on used tyres.
Max deemed his opener good enough and as the other 14 drivers queued in the pit lane, the champion was taking off his helmet and preparing to watch the drama unfold. And the closing moments were eventful.
Leclerc took top spot, 0.008s ahead of Max, but almost as soon as the Ferrari driver crossed the line his time was deleted from exceeding track limits in Turn 1. Sainz then went five thousandths of a second quicker to take P1, with Max going through in P2 ahead of Hülkenberg and Gasly. The deletion and the see-sawing times saw Checo, whose final time of 1:23.379 initially put him seventh, flirt with the drop zone. However, while Bottas put in an excellent final flyer to take P9, Checo made it through to Q3 in tenth place.
Bottas’ time meant that Tsunoda was bumped out of the top-10 shootout in P11 and he exited ahead of RB team-mate Liam Lawson, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, the unfortunate Leclerc, who also has a 10-place grid penalty for the race, and Magnussen.
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At the start of Q3, Max on new tyres, took provisional pole with a time of 1:22.945. The Champion had a nervous moment in the final corner. The back end of Max’s RB20 alarmingly stepped out beyond the white lines, but despite the slide he managed to regain control, and with his front right still on track, the lap stood.
Norris took second place, just 0.004s behind Max, while Piastri, who like Checo earlier, had his lap deleted and then reinstated, slotted into third. Both McLaren’s had completed their openers on used tyres.
And in the final runs, the new rubber counted. With a fresh set of Softs on board Norris powered to pole position over three tenths clear of Max’s opener, with Piastri making it a McLaren front row lockout. Sainz took third for Ferrari while Hülkenberg took a shock fourth place. Max couldn’t find an improvement coming on his final run, and the champion will line up fifth on the grid for the final race of the season.
Checo’s opener initially put him fourth on the timesheet but like his teammate he couldn’t improve on his final run, and he slipped to tenth at the end of the session.
