Verstappen surprises Mercedes to take Abu Dhabi pole position

F1 Grand Prix, GP Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuit

Max Verstappen didn't record a single best sector, but put together the best overall lap to beat both Mercedes for the first time this year. Just a few hundredths slower was Valtteri Bottas while Lewis Hamilton qualified in third.

After an anonymous third free practice session, Mercedes were out to prove something, and they soon did, as Bottas went fastest halfway into Q1. Lewis Hamilton was close, but his first lap was cancelled due to not respecting the limits of the track at Turn 20. In the event, Hamilton seemingly damaged the car's floor somewhat as he skated over the sausage kerbs, throwing sparks all over the place.

Hamilton sorted the situation a few minutes later by setting the 7th best time, enough to make it through to Q2.

Verstappen, Perez, Albon and Stroll were second to 6th, though for Perez, times didn't really matter at all, as a penalty meant he would have the start the race from the back of the grid anyway.

The closing stages saw more improvements across the field with Hamilton actually jumping up into first with a last minute attempt. Leclerc improved to third. Raikkonen got eliminated while his teammate Giovinazzi progressed into Q2, for the second time in a row.

Both Haas cars were out as well, along with the Williams drivers. Russell explained "the tyre were just nowhere" while Latifi spun when starting his final lap. He was going slowly to get some space ahead, but the aggressive acceleration out of Turn 21 made him spin, obviously removing any chance for improvement on his last effort.

The second part of qualifying kicked off with both Mercedes taking the track, Hamilton leading Bottas out of the pitlane. Just like both Red Bulls, the Ferraris, Renaults and Sainz, they opted for the medium compound tyres.

Hamilton emerged fastest, with Bottas within a tenth. Behind them, the fastest driver was Norris on soft edging out his own team mate on mediums by 4 tenths. Verstappen ended up 5th after those first laps, with the Dutchman complained that the tyres were bad at the end of his lap - despite being on mediums. Albon was even worse off, as his laptime was deleted for going too wide at Turn 20.

Similarly, Ricciardo's time was deleted for going off track on the exit of Turn 21.

While the track was quiet, Perez went out for a final qualifying outing for Racing Point. Though he returned to the pits at the end of his out-lap, Perez was applauded by his crew, and encouraged for the race ahead after returning back to the pitbox.

At the end, both Mercedes returned to the track on soft, without setting a better time. Verstappen and Albon got through; Verstappen on medium, Albon on soft.

In the fight for third place, Stroll and both McLarens are on the top 10 while both Renaults just missed out.

The first laps in Q3 saw everybody out on soft tyres, and obviously with the engines turned up to the maximum. It resulting in a very close top 4, both Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton and Albon less than two tents from one another. Bottas ended up fastest thanks to a purple S2 and S3, but that was just 0.156s faster than Albon in 4th.

Both McLarens were next up. Sainz was closest, exactly 4 tenths slower than Bottas.

The small differences continued in the second attempts, with Hamilton first improving to take provisional pole, then Bottas returning the favour, and eventually Verstappen beating both Mercedes with a few hundredths.

Lando Norris also pulled off an amazing lap to go 4th fastest, topping Albon and Sainz who both didn't manage to improve on their first attempts.