UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Sebastian Vettel showcased his vintage form in the qualifying session for the Abu Dhabi GP, as Max Verstappen beat his Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, to claim his seventh pole position of the 2022 season.
The World Champion, who claims he will do everything in his power to assist Perez in claiming second place in the Drivers’ standings ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, secured his third pole position in a row for the Abu Dhabi GP.
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time for the first sector on his final run but finished fifth, behind Leclerc and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.
Max Verstappen set the benchmark early, ahead of his teammate, Perez. Verstappen asked for a check of his headrest because he thought it might be loose. As a result, he took a brief break in the pits.
As the final stages of Q1 for the Abu Dhabi GP approached, Sebastian Vettel needed to improve to avoid exiting his final qualifying session before retirement, along with Valtteri Bottas, another prominent name in the bottom five.
Bottas was out of the session after he could not get his tires up to temperature. On the other hand, Sebastian Vettel dished out a stellar effort, improving superbly to finish fifth despite navigating through traffic near the end of the lap.
Williams teammates Latifi and Alex Albon, Brazil sprint pole sitter Kevin Magnussen (Haas), and Pierre Gasly failed to make it out of Q1 along with Bottas. His last Saturday with AlphaTauri ended in disappointment.
Hamilton complained that his brake was “still a problem” after setting the first laps of the Q2 session. Once more, it was the Red Bull duo at the top of the timing sheets, with Perez well ahead of Verstappen by over four-tenths of a second.
Lando Norris put his McLaren in fourth, splitting the Ferraris and finishing ahead of both Mercedes drivers. In contrast, his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, who had appeared to be a strong Q3 candidate up until that point, struggled in his timed laps and barely managed to scrape through into Q3.
Sebastian Vettel made it to Q3 with another stunning lap, but he was furious about being repeatedly held up by Red Bull, the team that provided him with his four World Championship-winning cars.
On the final runs, Leclerc moved up to second ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz before Verstappen went even faster than his earlier lap and claimed the pole position for the Abu Dhabi GP. His teammate Sergio Perez finished behind him to make it all Red Bull front row lockout.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz latched onto third and fourth spots on the grid. The British duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell came in fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Abu Dhabi GP will be the 299th and last race for Sebastian Vettel who announced his retirement from the sport.
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