ABU DHABI: Max Verstappen took pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday and will look to finish a crushingly dominant year with a 19th win.
Victory on Sunday would take the Red Bull driver onto 54 career wins, past former Red Bull star Sebastian Vettel and into third place all time.
“It’s been a very special season and we’ve been enjoying it a lot,” Verstappen said. “Very proud of what we have achieved.”
The three-time F1 champion’s 12th pole of the season took him to 32 overall. He starts the race ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second place and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in third.
“Never bet against me,” Verstappen said afterward, jokingly referring to a comment made by his Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
Horner informed Verstappen that he had won a bet for 500 euros ($547) made with Red Bull boss Helmut Marko as to where Verstappen would qualify.
“You’ve just won me 500 euros,” Horner told Verstappen over radio when he crossed the line.
With a few minutes left, Verstappen led from McLaren’s Lando Norris and Piastri under floodlights at the Yas Marina circuit.
Norris slid late while pushing too hard on his last timed lap and Piastri moved ahead of him, while Leclerc jumped up the leaderboard with an excellent lap to place .14 seconds behind Verstappen.
“Everything felt good, I’m very happy with that lap because I didn’t expect to be on the front row,” Leclerc said. “It’s a good surprise.”
Mercedes driver George Russell qualified in fourth ahead of Norris with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in sixth and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso seventh. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) completed the top 10.
It was a bad session for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (11th) and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. (16th).
Sainz failed to make it into the second part of qualifying — known as Q2 — and complained of too much traffic near the end of Q1 with several drivers coming out of their garages late.
Still, for a leading driver — Sainz is the only driver other than Verstappen or Perez to win a race this season — it was a poor performance after he crashed early in Friday’s second practice session. Potentially costly, too, with second place in the constructors’ championship at stake.
Heading into Sunday’s race, Mercedes was in second and held a four-point lead over Ferrari. Teams get more money at the end of the season the higher they finish.
“I hope tomorrow goes well,” Leclerc said. “It is the target to beat Mercedes in the constructors’ championship. That is all that matters this weekend.”
But Mercedes is struggling for form, and Hamilton was knocked out of Q2. The seven-time F1 champion said there was “something not right with this car” and faces the strong likelihood of a second straight season without a win.
Williams driver Logan Sargeant goes from last on the grid with his F1 future still uncertain. The American has only one point this season with a best result of 10th place at the United States GP last month.
Earlier Saturday, Russell topped the third and final practice session ahead of Norris and Piastri with Verstappen in sixth.
“What a turnaround because in practice it was not looking good,” Verstappen said. “Around here on the tires you have little slides, it can cost you a lot of lap time and that is what was happening in practice. But then in qualifying it was a bit more connected.”
When his form picked up, Horner was happy to win a bet in a season where Red Bull has lost only one race out of 21.
Piastri, meanwhile, was pleased to bounce back from a difficult qualifying session last weekend at the Las Vegas GP. He started from 18th and finished the race in 10th.
“The car is very quick this weekend,” the 22-year-old Australian said. “Happy to be back in the top three.”
F1 champion Verstappen takes pole position for season-ending Abu Dhabi GP
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F1 champion Verstappen takes pole position for season-ending Abu Dhabi GP
- Victory on Sunday would take the Red Bull driver onto 54 career wins
- The three-time F1 champion’s 12th pole of the season took him to 32 overall
Lando Norris sets up chance to chop Max Verstappen’s F1 lead with Italian GP pole
- Briton Norris claimed his fourth pole of the season, and second in succession
- Verstappen’s troubles continued, the Dutchman complaining on the team radio about steering and lack of grip
MONZA, Italy: Lando Norris gave himself a great chance to further cut Max Verstappen’s Formula One championship lead by taking pole position for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Trailing by 70 points in the drivers’ standings, Norris clocked one minute 19.327 seconds in a one-two with teammate Oscar Piastri, as Red Bull’s Verstappen finished nearly seven-tenths of a second behind in seventh.
Briton Norris claimed his fourth pole of the season, and second in succession, in a car which looks capable of a similar result as at last weekend’s Dutch GP, when he romped home to victory nearly 23 seconds ahead of the three-time champion Verstappen.
A dominant display from Norris and Piastri is great news for McLaren who are only 30 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
“Another pole which is amazing. To have two cars first and second when the field is as tight as it has been all weekend is a surprise, but a nice one,” said Norris.
“My lap, it hurts me to say, wasn’t a great lap. So a bit surprised at the end but very happy.”
Verstappen’s troubles continued, the Dutchman complaining on the team radio about steering and lack of grip on the newly laid tarmac at the Temple of Speed.
The 26-year-old has failed to win any of the last five GPs — only finishing on the podium in two — after claiming the honors at seven of the first 10.
George Russell will sit on the second row for Mercedes alongside Ferrari driver and home hope Charles Leclerc while Lewis Hamilton was one place and 0.509sec ahead of Verstappen in the second Mercedes.
Hamilton is racing for the last time at Monza as a Mercedes driver and Ferrari fans will be keen to see how the 39-year-old will perform on Sunday ahead of his move to the Scuderia at the end of the year.
Mercedes announced on Saturday morning that Hamilton would be replaced by teenage rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has had an eventful weekend after crashing and damaging Russell’s car in Friday’s first practice.
The Italian, who celebrated his 18th birthday last weekend, nearly crashed out of his Formula Two sprint race almost straight after the start, but managed to get back on the track and finish in 18th.
Another rookie Franco Colapinto will have a tough debut F1 race after replacing struggling Logan Sargeant who was axed by Williams after a disastrous weekend at Zandvoort.
The 21-year-old is the first Argentine driver to compete in F1 for over two decades but will start way back in 18th after being eliminated in Q1.
Toyota Hill Climb Championship event revs up in Taif
- The competition unfolds on a challenging 4.2km track, encompassing approximately 30 turns
TAIF: The second round of the Hill Climb Championship, part of the Saudi Toyota 2024 series, began on Thursday at Al-Mohammadia Hill in Al-Shifa in Taif.
The three-day event is organized and supervised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) in collaboration with the Ministry of Sports and the governorate of Taif.
Featuring 66 elite drivers of various nationalities including female drivers, the championship will offer a stiff test for the drivers.
The competition unfolds on a challenging 4.2km track, encompassing approximately 30 turns, where competitors start from the bottom of the plateau and race uphill to a final point at an altitude of 1,900 meters all the way to the finish line at 2,150 meters above sea level over the course of two days.
The first day saw the completion of participant registration and the technical check of the competing cars, along with a reconnaissance round and free practice sessions.
On Friday competitors will begin free trials in three successive stages, whilst the final day concludes on Saturday with competitions for participants, and an awards ceremony.
Brilliant Lando Norris stuns Max Verstappen to win Dutch Grand Prix
- Despite raucous encouragement from a packed Zandvoort circuit, Verstappen could not extract enough from his Red Bull to compete
ZANDVOORT: McLaren’s Lando Norris stormed to victory at the Dutch Grand Prix Sunday, a superb drive consigning home favorite Max Verstappen to his first-ever loss in front of his “Orange Army” fans.
The British driver claimed his second career chequered flag after winning in Miami in May, closing Verstappen’s lead over him in the world championship to 70 points, with the Dutchman coming second.
Despite raucous encouragement from a packed Zandvoort circuit, Verstappen could not extract enough from his Red Bull to compete with a recently upgraded McLaren that is beginning to look like the car to beat in Formula One.
“It feels amazing... The pace was very strong and the car was unbelievable today,” said Norris, who also secured a point for the fastest lap.
The start was critical. Questions have been asked of the starting ability of Norris, who has three times this season failed to convert pole position into a first lap lead.
And again Norris was sluggish off the line, allowing Verstappen to power around the outside to huge cheers from the crowd, who saw their man take a 0.9-second advantage into the second lap.
Buoyed by the fast start, Verstappen clocked the quickest lap in lap two, putting clear daylight between him and the McLaren of Norris.
But the McLaren had been the fastest car in the paddock all race weekend and Norris started slowly but surely eating into Verstappen’s lead.
By lap 17 out of 72, Norris was only a few tenths of a second behind Verstappen, the Dutchman complaining on his team radio of a lack of grip from his tires.
Norris passed him a lap later on the outside at turn one, Verstappen powerless to prevent the overtake and quickly falling further behind.
“I can’t go faster. The car is not responding to my inputs,” a desperate Verstappen told his engineers as Norris stretched his advantage to more than four seconds.
On lap 25, Verstappen decided enough was enough and he needed a new set of tires.
Norris pitted the lap after, his team taking 0.6 seconds longer than the Red Bull for the pit stop.
Nevertheless, Norris emerged from the two stops five seconds ahead of his rival and promptly produced the fastest lap of the race on his new set of tires.
By lap 40, Norris had extended the advantage to more than 10 seconds over the three-time champion and just had to stay out of trouble to take the chequered flag.
His eventual margin of victory was 22.896 seconds, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc holding off Norris’s McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to claim the third podium spot after a thrilling battle.
Red Bull’s struggling second driver Sergio Perez finished in sixth position, meaning the gap in the constructors’ championship also narrowed from 42 points to 30.
“I wouldn’t say a perfect race because of lap one again, but afterwards it was beautiful,” said Norris.
“I expected Max to start pushing and get a bit of a gap. And he never did. So from that point, I knew we were in with a good fight,” added Norris.
“But he seemed to just keep dropping off. And my pace was getting better. So it’s a nice feeling inside the car. And especially when I got past, you know, I could just get comfortable.”
The F1 circus now moves on to the famous Monza track in Italy next weekend, round 16 of 24 with everyone snapping at Verstappen’s heels.
Verstappen has not won a Grand Prix since Barcelona in June, his longest barren spell since 2020 and while it is premature to talk of panic stations at Red Bull, the Dutch weekend will have given some cause for concern.
“You always try to do better and we had a good start, we tried everything we could today, but throughout the race it was quite clear that we are not quick enough, so I tried to be second today,” said Verstappen.
McLaren’s Lando Norris takes pole for Dutch Grand Prix
- British driver registered the fastest lap in one minute 9.673 seconds ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands: McLaren driver Lando Norris on Saturday claimed pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, pipping local favorite Max Verstappen into second in a thrilling qualifying session.
The British driver registered the fastest lap in one minute 9.673 seconds ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull who clocked 1min 10.029sec in windy and damp conditions on the Zandvoort circuit.
Norris’s McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri will start in third place on the grid on Sunday, ahead of George Russell from Mercedes in fourth.
“We lacked a bit of pace. I’m still happy to be on the front row. It’s tricky out there with the wind,” said Verstappen.
“I’m happy with second. I think after yesterday, this was a good result,” added the 26-year-old.
Verstappen will be competing in his 200th Grand Prix on Sunday but things did not all go his way at his home Grand Prix.
He has never been beaten in the three races held in the Netherlands since it was re-established on the circuit in 2021 and always started in pole position.
But he trailed in fifth during practice, complaining his Red Bull was lacking speed, with no clear path to improving performance.
After winning 19 races on a cruise to the 2023 world championship, Verstappen took seven of the first 10 in 2024, leaving many fearing a similar procession this year.
But he has suffered a lean spell by his own standards, without a win in the last four races — his longest winless stretch since 2020.
He nevertheless enjoys a 78-point lead in the drivers’ championship over closest rival Norris, who has admitted he faces an uphill climb to overhaul the Dutchman.
“I’m not expecting anything easy that’s for sure,” Norris told reporters after the qualifying.
Five things to watch as F1 returns for Dutch Grand Prix
- With 10 races to go, the championship is finely poised with Max Verstappen looking nervously over his shoulder at the chasing pack
- The three-time champion has been unstoppable in recent years
- The 26-year-old Dutchman has also been untouchable on his home track since Zandvoort returned to the Grand Prix circuit
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands: After a month off for the summer break, Formula One is back as fans, drivers, and teams descend on the seaside resort of Zandvoort for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.
With 10 races to go, the championship is finely poised with Max Verstappen looking nervously over his shoulder at the chasing pack and competitors lining up to dethrone his Red Bull team from the constructors’ crown.
Here are the five talking points in the paddock ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
The biggest question is whether home favorite Verstappen can re-establish his dominance in front of his adoring Orange Army of fans.
The three-time champion has been unstoppable in recent years and cruised to last season’s title with a staggering 19 Grand Prix victories.
The 26-year-old Dutchman has also been untouchable on his home track since Zandvoort returned to the Grand Prix circuit, winning in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Following last season’s procession, Verstappen looked to be picking up where he left off, winning seven out of the first 10 races for a healthy championship lead.
But he hasn’t taken the chequered flag since Spain in June, a “lean spell” of four races he hasn’t experienced since 2020.
He still enjoys a 78-point lead over his nearest rival, Lando Norris from McLaren, but he will be keen to reassert himself to quash any pretenders to his crown.
Verstappen himself appeared relaxed about it, telling the team podcast before the break: “I honestly don’t care about the records — when I’m sitting on the beach drinking gin and tonic I don’t care about that, so I’ll be fine!“
The main pretender to that crowd, 24-year-old British driver Norris, is enjoying a breakthrough year in a car that is much more competitive this season.
Norris secured a long-awaited maiden Grand Prix victory in Miami, holding off Verstappen and finally burying the cruel online nickname of “Lando NoWins.”
The McLaren renaissance reached new heights with a first Grand Prix win for Oscar Piastri in Hungary in July, with the team securing a 1-2 on the podium for the first time since 2021.
The constructor’s championship is even tighter than the drivers’ race, Red Bull sitting just 42 points ahead of McLaren, with Ferrari only 21 points further back in third.
Much of this is down to a disappointing season from Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who has suffered a dramatic loss of form.
Since the Miami Grand Prix in early May, he has registered no higher than eighth, twice failing to finish and trailing in 17th at Silverstone in July.
In the uncompromising world of Formula One, this has inevitably led to speculation over whether he can retain his seat.
Red Bull have publicly stated their support for the Mexican but Perez will want a podium place at Zandvoort to impress famously ruthless team principal Christian Horner.
“I know what we can extract from the car in the coming weeks and we will do our best to maximize the second half of 2024,” said Perez before the race.
Perez’s position is not the only question mark heading into the Dutch Grand Prix as the mercato rumor mill goes into overdrive.
Since seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton announced a surprise switch to Ferrari for next season, speculation over his Mercedes spot has been at fever pitch.
Team principal Toto Wolff has promised an announcement “in the summer” and would love to bring Verstappen himself to the Silver Arrows.
At just 17, junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been mentioned as a possible candidate to join George Russell but Wolff suggested he might still be too young.
Carlos Sainz, who will be replaced by Hamilton at Ferrari, announced last month he would sign for Williams amid what he said was an “exceptionally complex” drivers’ market.
Regardless of Verstappen’s race fortunes, expect the traditional “sea of orange” from his fanatical Dutch fans at the Zandvoort track, a stone’s throw from the beach.
Like the famous Silverstone, the track was opened in 1948 and welcomed its first Grand Prix in 1952 with races periodically staged there until 1985 when it was shelved.
Zandvoort enjoyed a triumphant comeback in 2021, undulating through the Dutch dunes along its 4.2 kilometers (2.6 miles) circuit length.
The drivers will complete 72 laps in around two hours. A sudden downpour stopped last year’s race and while Sunday’s forecast is set fair, unpredictable Dutch seaside weather could yet play a role.
