Verstappen takes pole position for F1 title-deciding Abu Dhabi GP ahead of Norris and Piastri

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi UAE Saturday Dec AP Photo Altaf Qadri AP Altaf Qadri Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi UAE Saturday Dec AP Photo Altaf Qadri AP Altaf Qadri ABU DHABI United Arab Emirates AP Max Verstappen took a brilliant pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Formula title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on Saturday The thrilling three-way battle will be decided on Sunday at the Yas Marina Circuit The McLaren driver Norris is points ahead of Red Bull s Verstappen and ahead of McLaren teammate Piastri Verstappen is aiming for his fifth straight F title Norris and Piastri are chasing their first All three drivers have won seven races The Dutchman is ready to fight for another title battle on the final day just like in when he beat seven-time F champion Lewis Hamilton on the last lap to clinch his first championship We find out the next morning don t we Verstappen mentioned I will try and win the race Pole position is crucial on the -lap circuit in Abu Dhabi where overtaking is hard Every driver has won from pole since The last driver not to win from pole was Nico Rosberg in when he was beaten by his then-Mercedes teammate Hamilton Verstappen had already set the fastest lap on his first go but went even quicker on his second attempt and clocked minute seconds making him faster than Norris and quicker than Piastri That was insane Verstappen commented over club radio after his eighth pole of the season and th overall Yes Lovely Verstappen kissed his girlfriend Kelly Piquet and shook hands with McLaren CEO Zak Brown Norris will win the title if he s on the podium in Abu Dhabi Even if Verstappen wins the Dutchman necessities Norris to be fourth or lower If Piastri wins he requires Norris to finish outside the top five Norris will start from the front row but was disappointed not to be on pole We just weren t fast enough in contemporary times We ll have to try and do it the day after he explained I still want to try and win the following morning so that s going to be the goal Piastri was content with his performance Nicely done he reported Wasn t much left Hamilton was eliminated from Q the first section of qualifying for the third straight race He also crashed in third practice due to a driver error earlier Saturday and has not qualified inside the top for four consecutive races I m so sorry Hamilton disclosed over crew radio There are no words to express how I feel Questioned about a dejected-sounding Hamilton mentioned I m not looking that far ahead Mercedes driver George Russell qualified fourth ahead of Ferrari s Charles Leclerc who fared much better than his more illustrious teammate Hamilton struggles again Russell led third practice ahead of Norris and Verstappen But Hamilton lost the rear of the Ferrari coming out of Turn and spun full circle before sliding into the fences bringing out the red flag He stepped out of the car and picked up several of the debris himself Hamilton owns F records for the bulk wins and pole positions but called his own performance terrible this season The -year-old Briton won a sprint race in China in March but nothing else this season He has not even been on the podium in a main race this campaign Norris evidenced good pace to lead Friday s first two practice sessions ahead of Verstappen McLaren rues errors Norris had the chance to wrap up the title at last week s Qatar Grand Prix but a botched strategy call by McLaren handed Verstappen the win boosting his chances of a fifth straight title to equal Michael Schumacher s feat with Ferrari from - Verstappen s success in Qatar was his th overall His title chances improved after Norris and Piastri were disqualified in Las Vegas Tense title race After winning the Dutch GP on Aug Piastri led by Norris by points and was ahead of Verstappen who had won just two races Piastri who is looking to become the first Australian champion in years hasn t won in eight races since his Zandvoort win When Norris won the Brazil GP sprint race in early November he moved ahead of Verstappen with four races to go Verstappen also qualified in th for the main race in Sao Paulo and declared he could forget about winning the title at that point Now it s a different feeling After taking yet another superb pole Verstappen stood proudly on his car and did a No gesture with his finger AP auto racing https apnews com hub auto-racing Source