Abu Dhabi Qualifying: Verstappen takes pole ahead of F1 season finale

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the final Formula One pole position of the season on Saturday, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc joining him on the front row at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit.

After a nervous wait for stewards to clear him of allegedly impeding Alpine's Pierre Gasly, McLaren's Australian rookie Oscar Piastri qualified third for McLaren, with Mercedes' George Russell fourth.

McLaren's Lando Norris dropped from a provisional second after the first flying laps to an eventual fifth when he clipped a kerb on his final effort.

Red Bull has won 20 of the 21 races so far, setting yet another F1 record, and Verstappen has won in Abu Dhabi for the past three years. Both championships have already been won.

The 26-year-old Dutch driver, whose teammate Sergio Perez qualified ninth, had complained about his car jumping around "like a kangaroo" in practice.

Russell had been fastest in two of the practice sessions and Leclerc in the third, casting doubt on Verstappen's chances of pole.

Verstappen's pole was his 12th of the season and 32nd of his career, tying him with 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell on the all-time list.

McLaren also appeared to be a good bet to retain fourth place overall, with rivals Aston Martin having only Fernando Alonso qualify in the top 10, with the Spaniard starting seventh and trailing AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda.

Mercedes' seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified 11th, knocked out by Russell and complaining over the radio to race engineer Peter Bonnington that "there's something not right with this car".

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz will start 16th, dashing the Italian team's hopes of overtaking Mercedes as the best of the rest behind Red Bull.

In the championship's main remaining battle, the two teams are only four points apart.

Perez, who was last out of the pit lane at the end and then hit traffic, knocked Sainz out in the dying seconds of phase one.

Lance Stroll qualified 13th for Aston Martin.

Logan Sargeant of Williams will start last after his best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits; the American rookie finished the season having been outqualified by teammate Alex Albon in every race.

Albon will start 14th, with AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo 15th, in a battle for seventh overall.

SportsLigue