F1
Max on pole for title decider!
Read the full Saturday report and reaction from The Team.
Max Verstappen took a stunning pole position at Yas Marina, finishing two tenths of a second clear of Championship leader Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to put himself in the best possible position to battle for the 2025 F1 Driver’s Title. Yuki Tsunoda, meanwhile, made it a double Q3 finish for Qualifying and is set to start the Race from P10.
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Reaction from The Team
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Max Secures Pole! Hear The Teams Reaction After Saturday's Qualifying
After easing through the first two parts of Qualifying, Max grabbed Q3 by the scruff of the neck, benefiting from a Yuki tow to claim provisional pole. In the end, however, the four-time champion did it all on his own and a blistering final flyer of 1:22.207 put him 0.201s clear of Lando, with Oscar in P3.
“Incredibly happy to be in first,” said Max, “That's the only thing that we can do, right? That's the only thing that we can control, try to just maximise everything we have and then do what we can with the car – and we definitely did that in Qualifying.”
Under The Spotlight
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FP3
Max ended the final hour of Practice in third place, 0.124s behind session’s quickest man, George Russell, who beat Lando Norris to top spot by 0.004s.
The Dutchman was on the pace throughout, but despite improving three times in the final 15 minutes, he had to settle for P3 and complained of his car jumping to the degree that he couldn’t keep his feet on the pedals.
It was a much tougher session for Yuki, however. The Japanese driver was involved in an early incident with Lando when he was caught unaware by the McLaren driver on a flying lap in the final sector.
Later, the Japanese driver looked set to climb the order with his first Quali sim, but after setting a purple middle sector he abandoned the lap and headed back to the pits. And it was there that his session ended.
He was on his way out for a final flyer when Kimi Antonelli was released from his garage directly into his path. The Mercedes rookie collided into the side of the RB21 and, with damage to his car, Yuki’s session was over and he ended up in P20.
What A Place For The Finale
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Q1
Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg set the early pace in the first part of Qualifying with a lap of 1:23.473, but when Max took the track with 14 mins to go, the Dutchman went more than a second quicker to take top spot with a lap of 1:23.325.
Yuki posted an opener of 1:23.659 to take P3 but he was swiftly bumped back by VCARB’s Isack Hadjar, who went four hundredths of a second quicker.
Norris then moved up to P3 but the top three were then pushed back by Haas’ Ollie Bearman, who grabbed top spot with a lap of 1:23.254 as Oscar took P2 on 1:23.255. Then, with nine minutes remaining, George Russell outpaced everyone with a lap of 1:23.247.
With just 0.078s separating the top four of George, Ollie, Oscar and Max, there was a lull as drivers returned to their garage to plot their final runs.
Lando stopped the clock at 1:23.178 but Oscar was close behind and with a lap of 1:22.605 he went 0.573s clear. Max then punched in a strong lap of 1:22.877 to take P2 at the flag with Kimi fourth ahead of Fernando, Charles and sixth-placed Lando.
Yuki made it through to Q2 with an improved lap of 1:23.386 and that pushed Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton out of Qualifying in P16. The Briton was followed to the exit by Williams’ Alex Albon, Nico Hülkenberg and that Alpine’s of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.
The RB21 In All It's Glory
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Q2
Max was first out on track at the start of Q2 and on a used set of Softs he stopped the clock at 1:22.912, just over three hundredths of a second off his Q1 best. George moved ahead on 1:22.730 on new tyres, while Lando slotted into P2 just 0.074s on used Softs. Oscar, also on used Softs, then made his way to P4.
Max was already out again, however, and with six minutes left in the session he improved to 1:22.752, still on scrubbed tyres, to steal P2 from Lando before heading back to the pits to sit out the final runs. And as the times flowed in, Max held on to P2 as the time of the top three held. Fernando jumped to P4 in the final runs, with Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto improving to fifth. Charles went through in sixth ahead of Isack and Oscar, who backed out of his lap. Haas’ Esteban Ocon was ninth and Yuki powered through to Q3 in P10 aided by a superb purple second sector.
The Japanese driver’s lap of 1:23.034 saw him through just 0.007s ahead of Ollie Bearman who was out of the session in P11 ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, the other VCARB car of Liam Lawson, Antonelli and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Max Wins One More Qualifying
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Q3
Max was again on track early in Q2 and this time the Dutchman was given a boost on his opening flyer. Yuki made himself available for a tow and with his race engineer informing him of where the defending Champion was the Japanese driver punched a hole in the air and then pulled across at the last moment to see Max cross the line in 1:22.295.
The McLarens, on scrubbed Softs, had no response to that pace and Oscar stopped the clock in 1:22.622, 0.327s off the defending Champion, while Lando was a tenth further back in P3.
The gauntlet was now down and with both McLaren drivers set to receive the benefit of fresh Softs for the final runs, the expectation was for Pole to be a matter of milliseconds.
In the end, however, Max was unstoppable. Even without a tow, the Dutchman found more pace and after lighting the screens purple, he took his eight Pole of the season – the most for the campaign – with a scorching lap of 1:22.207.
“That’s two pole laps Max. That’s a good start,” said GP over the radio.
Let’s go guys! That was insane. Lovely!
“Let’s go guys! That was insane. Lovely!” came the response from Max.
Joining Max on the front row is Lando Norris, with teammate Oscar just behind in third. Behind the top three, George was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Charles and Fernando, with Gabriel seventh ahead of Esteban and Isack. And after sacrificing his opening lap to play the team game, Yuki saw his final lap deleted to qualify in P10.