F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Norris leads front-row lockout for…

Lando Norris took pole position for Formula 1’s 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz, as long-time qualifying leader Max Verstappen ended up only fifth.

Elsewhere, Charles Leclerc lost his best lap in Q2 to a track limits violation for Ferrari, which boosts McLaren’s chances of netting the constructors’ title even further given its 1-2 result, while Lewis Hamilton’s final weekend for Mercedes included a shock Q1 exit.

Verstappen had looked in control through the opening segments, with the Dutchman the only driver to get through to Q3 with two sets of new softs remaining.

He used his first to lead with a 1m22.945s, albeit with a lurid slide out of the final corner, with Norris trailing by 0.004s at this stage.

On the final runs, Verstappen ran last of the pack, but did not improve, as the added grip punch of the new softs got McLaren back to the pacesetting position it had established in FP1 and FP2.

Piastri shot to a 1m22.804s, which shuffled outgoing Haas star Nico Hulkenberg back from the provisional pole he had snared with the opening effort on the final runs – the German eventually ending up behind Sainz in fourth.

Norris then came by to edge his team-mate by 0.21s with the quickest time in the final sector, with Piastri’s Q3 appearance starting with him temporarily losing his first run time as he flirted with the track limits exiting Turn 1.

Behind on the final fliers, Verstappen only set a personal best in the final sector and so did not go quicker overall – the Dutchman finishing ahead of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and George Russell for Mercedes in fifth.

Then came Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, while Sergio Perez failed to beat Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber to ninth, with the Mexican driver rounding out the top 10 in what could be his final F1 race.

In Q2, Leclerc looked to have progressed as the fastest runner, with previous segment leader Verstappen even temporarily out of his car in the pits, but the Ferrari driver slipped fractionally beyond track limits at Turn 1 and so lost his 1m22.985s personal best.

Unlike Red Bull with Perez in Q1, Ferrari could not get Leclerc’s time reinstated as a patch of blue kerb paint was visible as he went deep through the left-hander and his fall to 14th means he will start from the last row of the grid with his battery-change grid penalty.

The other Q2 fallers were RB's Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson in 11th and 12th, with Lance Stroll 13th and Kevin Magnussen 15th.

In Q1, Hamilton was the big shock faller – the Mercedes driver down towards the drop zone after the intial runs and with a big track improvement factor evidenced from his former team-mate Bottas jumping from 16th to second in the segment eventually topped by Leclerc.

At the end of Hamilton’s final flier, where he was trailing Magnussen all around, the Haas of Magnussen cutting Turn 14 and knocking a green bollard into his path meant the seven-time world champion had to do the final corners with his car's handling compromised.

He failed to set a personal best at the line – ending up out being Alex Albon and Zhou Guanyu and along with Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan in 18th place.

Provisional starting grid:

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Time	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	1'22.595	230.178
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	+0.209 1'22.804	229.597
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.229 1'22.824	229.542
4	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	+0.291 1'22.886	229.370
5	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.350 1'22.945	229.207
6	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	+0.389 1'22.984	229.099
7	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.537 1'23.132	228.691
8	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	+0.601 1'23.196	228.515
9	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	+0.609 1'23.204	228.493
10	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.669 1'23.264	228.329
11	Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls	22	RB	Red Bull	+0.824 1'23.419	227.904
12	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	+0.877 1'23.472	227.760
13	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.189 1'23.784	226.912
14	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	+1.282 1'23.877	226.660
15	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	+1.285 1'23.880	226.652
16	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	+1.292 1'23.887	226.633
17	J. Doohan Alpine	61	Alpine	Renault	+1.510 1'24.105	226.046
18	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	+1.226 1'23.821	226.811
19	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	+1.238 1'23.833	226.779
20	F. Colapinto Williams	43	Williams	Mercedes	+1.317 1'23.912	226.565
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