Max Verstappen lends helping hand to Sergio Perez as Red Bull dominate Abu Dhabi qualifying

Verstappen tijdens kwalificatie in Abu Dhabi — Photo: © LAT Images

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Verstappen lends helping hand to Perez as Red Bull dominate Abu Dhabi qualifying

Verstappen provided a slipstream to Perez

Ewan Gale

Saturday 19 November 2022 16:04 Updated: 17:56

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Max Verstappen took pole for the final race of the F1 season as Red Bull dominated qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The world champion set the fastest time of a one minute 23.824 to beat team-mate Sergio Perez by two-tenths at the Yas Marina circuit.

Verstappen gave Perez a helping hand by providing a tow on the final flying lap, pulling the Mexican through the middle sector with the fastest time of all, Perez finishing less than a tenth ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

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The teamwork was in stark contrast to the intense infighting following last weekend's team orders furore.

The Dutchman came close to running too wide on his first lap, though a quicker lap on his second attempt alleviated worries.

The Milton Keynes-based team did, however, come under fire for hampering Sebastian Vettel three times and each of the Mercedes drivers across the hour of running.

Carlos Sainz was fourth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Lando Norris impressed throughout but was unable to break into the top six, although the Briton was able to keep Alpine's Esteban Ocon behind.

Vettel reached Q3 in Abu Dhabi for the first time in three years with a stellar performance on his final qualifying appearance, extracting every ounce of performance out of his Aston Martin to qualify ninth.

Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10, though will take a three-place grid penalty for his collision with Kevin Magnussen at Interlagos last weekend.

Alonso optimistic as Schumacher positives in final qualifying

Fernando Alonso's last qualifying for Alpine ended in Q2 with the Spaniard finishing 0.028s slower than Ricciardo.

Two-time champion Alonso was told of his demise on team radio, though an optimistic reply of 'it's ok' proved he was in a better mood than a week ago in Brazil.

Yuki Tsunoda was 12th fastest, following on from his strong performance at this circuit last season. The Japanese driver was able to jump ahead of Haas' Mick Schumacher, who out-qualified team-mate Magnussen on what could be his final weekend in F1.

Lance Stroll failed to make an impression in the second Aston Martin, half a second adrift of team-mate Vettel, and will line up ahead of the lead Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu.

Magnussen from high to low as traffic builds up

Magnussen discovered the difference a week in F1 can make, falling at the first hurdle of qualifying eight days on from his maiden pole position.

The Haas driver was nudged out by just 0.052s in Q1 and will line up alongside AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly as the two teams battle for eighth in the constructors' standings.

Valtteri Bottas was the shock of the session, managing only the 18th best time for Alfa Romeo, the Finn complaining of a lack of tyre temperature from the pre-lap queuing.

The Williams duo rounded out the field with Alex Albon ahead of Nicholas Latifi, the Thai-British driver sporting a tribute to his team-mate on his helmet ahead of what could be his last qualifying in F1.