Max Verstappen beats Lando Norris in Abu Dhabi qualifying as F1 title fight goes down to the wire

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Max Verstappen secured the final pole position of the 2025 Formula One season, setting up an epic showdown for Sunday evening with the championship on the line. Points leader Lando Norris qualified second, while his McLaren teammate and the third contender, Oscar Piastri ,will be a place further back on the grid for the Grand Prix.
Red Bull brought out the team games early in Q3. With Yuki Tsunoda advancing to the final part of qualifying, the Japanese driver gave Verstappen a tow during his first flying lap to build, which brought a gap over the rest of the pack. It was a banger of a flying lap — the Dutchman hitting a 1:22.295 to claim provisional pole position. Piastri was over three-tenths of a second off with the second quickest lap at this stage, while Norris was in provisional third. But both McLarens were on used soft tires compared to the new, fresh tires of Verstappen.
It was a handy psychological advantage as the Q3 pack waited to do their final flying laps. Tsunoda was sent out early again, allowing him to set a time that briefly had him up to sixth in the order before the lap was deleted for a track limits violation at Turn 1 and he looked to help Verstappen again. But with the way the cars behind Tsunoda filtered had out onto the track, Verstappen did not get a tow from his teammate for his second run. It did not matter.
During the Dutchman’s final lap, he was already improving on his original Q3 trip around the Yas Marina Circuit, setting purple sections in the lap’s first and second thirds. He came home with a 1:22.207 to secure pole position and better his first effort with another healthy gap over the McLarens.
Norris, who just needs to finish third on Sunday even if Verstappen (his closest title rival) wins, did enough to leap ahead of Piastri to claim second on the grid. Piastri, however, seemed content he had reached the limit of what McLaren could do.
George Russell of Mercedes looked like he might get among the title rivals with his pace in FP3 and early in qualifying, but he qualified fourth, while Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will be fifth.
Behind came Fernando Alonso, Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon and Isack Hadjar, who all slotted in ahead of Tsunoda.
Q2: Tsunoda progresses to be Verstappen’s wingman at last
The biggest storyline going into the finale is the three-way battle for the title, after Verstappen stormed his way into contention. But he needs Norris to fall down to at least fourth to have a chance of claiming the crown with victory.
It’s well known how Sergio Pérez played a key role in Verstappen’s first title fight, as the Mexican driver put together a strong defense at a key time to briefly hold back Lewis Hamilton during the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. By advancing to Q3, Tsunoda gives himself a shot at helping Verstappen this time.
“Do we need a strong Yuki to put as many cars between Max and the rest of the group if we are strong enough to lead with Max? Yes.” Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies said during Friday’s news conference. “So, we need a strong Yuki. We need a strong Mercedes. We need a strong Ferrari. We need a strong everything.”
In the week leading up to the Abu Dhabi GP, Red Bull announced Hadjar would be promoted to the senior team, Arvid Lindblad would move up from Formula Two to drive for Racing Bulls, while Tsunoda would become a reserve driver for Red Bull’s two teams. It comes after a long year where the Japanese driver showed flashes of pace and signs of improvement alongside Verstappen, but couldn’t string together competitive weekends consistently.
The last time Tsunoda advanced to Q3 was Mexico City in late October. He qualified 10th.
Behind, the Q2 fallers were Ollie Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Liam Lawson, Kimi Antonelli and Lance Stroll.
Q1: Hamilton out early again as first Ferrari season draws to a close
For a second, it looked like Lewis Hamilton was safe. He seemed comfortable throughout the early stages of Q1, with his Ferrari teammate Leclerc down in the drop zone. But instead, as the final seconds of Q1 ticked by, the seven-time world champion found himself in danger. Hamilton couldn’t do enough with his final lap and ended up shuffled down to 16th, which marks Hamilton’s third consecutive Q1 exit (or fourth, including the Qatar sprint qualifying session).
“Every time, mate,” Hamilton said over his team radio to his engineer. “I’m so sorry.”
Small mistakes add up. Hamilton appeared to go a bit wide at Turn 12, which cost him time. He ended up just 0.008-seconds slower than Red Bull driver Tsunoda, who barely eked into Q2.
It hasn’t been an ideal weekend for Hamilton, after a fairly miserable year first year at Ferrari. He missed FP1, as Arthur Leclerc drove his car to fulfill the team’s required young driver practice outings for the year, and he was only P14 in FP2. Then on Saturday afternoon, Hamilton crashed at Turn 9 midway through third practice, causing damage to the front of his car. He lost the rear of his car and went off backwards, before reporting, “Something buckled at the front and snapped the rear.”
His performance doesn’t give confidence for a spectacular race day to end his first season at Ferrari.
The other fallers were Alex Albon, Nico Hülkenberg and the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.
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