Max Verstappen won the last qualifying session of the 2023 season during the
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at
Yas Marina Circuit.
While
practice sessions suggested
Red Bull could struggle in qualifying, the team made great progress with the car setup, allowing Max Verstappen to achieve the pole.
His teammate
Sergio Perez was also at the top of the board but got his last lap time deleted, and his first Q3 time was only enough for P9.
Charles Leclerc in P2 gave
Ferrari some hope in the battle for second place in the Championship against
Mercedes, while
Carlos Sainz was surprisingly knocked out of Q1.
It was not exactly a clean qualifying session for Silver Arrows, either. While
George Russell scored a P4,
Lewis Hamilton's time in Q2
was not good enough to make it into Q3, just as he had feared.
Crucially for
McLaren in their battle against
Aston Martin, both
Lando Norris and
Oscar Piastri in P3 and P5 out-qualified Aston Martin F1 drivers
Fernando Alonso and
Lance Stroll in P7 and P13.
Yas Marina Circuit suited
Yuki Tsunoda on his
AlphaTauri, who scored P6, putting nine cars between himself and
Daniel Ricciardo in P15.
Recovering well from his
FP2 crash,
Nico Hulkenberg brought home yet another amazing qualifying result for his team this season, achieving P8.
Kevin Magnussen achieved P17.
Pierre Gasly - the driver with number 10 on his
Alpine car, completed the top 10. He might have hoped for a better result but ran wide in turn one and got his time deleted.
Esteban Ocon will hope for another great recovery race, just like he had in Las Vegas after qualifying only in P12.
Alex Albon on
Williams seemed very fast in the FP3 and Q1 part of the qualifying session, but somehow, his Q2 times were only good enough for P14.
On the contrary, he did better than his teammate
Logan Sargeant, whose lap times in Q1 both got deleted for track limits infringement in turn one.
Alfa Romeo drivers
Valtteri Bottas and
Zhou Guanyu fell out of Q1 along with Sargeant, Magnussen and Sainz. The two Alfa Romeo drivers will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from P18 and P19.
2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying Results:
POS | DRIVER | CAR | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:24.160 | 1:23.740 | 1:23.445 |
2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:24.459 | 1:23.969 | 1:23.584 |
3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:24.487 | 1:24.278 | 1:23.782 |
4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:24.337 | 1:24.013 | 1:23.788 |
5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:24.368 | 1:23.920 | 1:23.816 |
6 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:24.286 | 1:24.207 | 1:23.968 |
7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:24.501 | 1:24.131 | 1:24.084 |
8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1:24.425 | 1:24.213 | 1:24.108 |
9 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1:24.209 | 1:24.116 | 1:24.171 |
10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:24.600 | 1:24.078 | 1:24.548 |
11 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.437 | 1:24.359 | |
12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:24.565 | 1:24.391 | |
13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:24.405 | 1:24.422 | |
14 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1:24.298 | 1:24.439 | |
15 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | 1:24.461 | 1:24.442 | |
16 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:24.738 | | |
17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:24.764 | | |
18 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:24.788 | | |
19 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1:25.159 | | |
NC | Logan Sargeant | Williams | DNF | | |