Max Verstappen grabbed pole position for the championship-deciding 2025 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing two tenths of a second ahead of title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. 

Verstappen goes into the final race of the season 12 points behind championship leader Norris and with blistering pace in Q3 of the hour-long session at Yas Marina the Dutchman put himself in the best possible position to challenge for a fifth consecutive title. 

After easing through the first two parts of qualifying, Verstappen benefited from tow from Red Bull Racing team-mate Yuki Tsunoda to grab provisional pole at the start of Q3, three tenths clear of Piastri and Norris. But with the McLaren pair set to switch from scrubbed to new Soft tyres for the final runs the expectation was for a tight fight for P1 on the grid, 

However, in the end, four-time champion Verstappen didn’t need any more assistance and a blistering final flyer of 1:22.207 put him 0.201s clear of Norris, with Piastri a further 0.029s back in third. 

“In Q2 I stayed on scrubbed tyres, and I think those laps already felt quite decent,” said Verstappen of his session. “And then in Q3, you know, the track temp is coming down and you know that you can push a bit more and that's exactly what we did. We found a bit more lap time and, of course, incredibly happy to be in first. 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.”

Behind the top three, George Russell was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, Gabriel Bortoleto took seventh for Kick Sauber ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar. After sacrificing his opening lap, Tsunoda in his final race for Red Bull racing for the time being, qualified in P10, his first Q3 appearance since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September. 

In the middle segment, Verstappen, on a used set of Softs set the pace at 1:22.912. Russell moved ahead of that with a lap of 1:22.730 on new tyres, while Norris slotted into P2 just 0.074s on used Softs. Piastri, also on used Softs, then made his way to P4. 

Verstappen then improved to 1:22.752, still on scrubbed tyres, to steal P2 from Norris before heading back to the pits to sit out the final runs. And as the times flowed in the top three all held their positions. Alonso jumped to P4 in the final runs, with Bortoleto improving to fifth. Leclerc went through in sixth ahead of Hadjar and Piastri, who backed out of his lap. Ocon was ninth and Tsunda, aided by a purple second sector, scraped through in P10.

The Japanese driver’s lap of 1:23.034 saw him through just 0.007s ahead of Bearman who was dumped out of the session in P11 ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, the other Racing Bulls car of Liam Lawson, Antonelli and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

The big faller in Q1 was Lewis Hamilton and again it was Tsunoda who scraped past. The Japanese driver’s time of 1:23.386 was good enough for 15th and 0.008s ahead of Hamilton who dropped out ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon, Hülkenberg and that Alpine’s of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:22.207 - -
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:22.408 0.201 0.245
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:22.437 0.230 0.280
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:22.645 0.438 0.533
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:22.730 0.523 0.636
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:22.902 0.695 0.845
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:22.904 0.697 0.848
8 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:22.913 0.706 0.859
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:23.072 0.865 1.052
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT - - -
11 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:23.041 0.834 1.015
12 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:23.042 0.835 1.016
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:23.077 0.870 1.058
14 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:23.080 0.873 1.062
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:23.097 0.890 1.083
16 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:23.394 1.187 1.444
17 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:23.416 1.209 1.471
18 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:23.450 1.243 1.512
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:23.468 1.261 1.534
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:23.890 1.683 2.047