Max Verstappen takes important Pole position of his career at 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Hamilton and Norris

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took a important pole position of his career – with the help of a tow from team mate Sergio Perez to seize the phycological advantage over rival Lewis Hamilton for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Dutchman clocked a brilliant 1m22.109s on his first run in Q3 to take a 10th pole position of the season, with Hamilton 0.371s off the pace to end up in second with McLaren’s Lando Norris taking a surprise third place.

Red Bull sent Perez out on track first in Q3, ahead of Verstappen, with the Mexican towing Verstappen down the long straight before bailing out of the way before Turn 9 and sacrificing his own lap.

Verstappen made the most of the boost to slot into provisional pole, with Hamilton locking up at the hairpin and ending up nearly half a second adrift.

“It’s of course an amazing feeling,” said polesitter Max Verstappen after taking season high 10th pole. “I think we definitely improved the car again in qualifying because so far, this weekend was a bit on and off, but incredibly happy with this. This is of course what we wanted but it’s never easy especially with their [Mercedes’] form in the last few races. Now I’m just looking forward to tomorrow, because that’s of course the most important.”

Mercedes sent their cars out first for the second run, but with Hamilton ahead of Bottas as they turned down the opportunity to try a tow. Hamilton improved, but he was behind in all three sectors and instead will start on the dirty side of the front row alongside his title rival in P2.

However, like his team mate Bottas, Hamilton will start on the more durable medium tyre that should allow him to run deeper into the race before stopping. The Red Bulls, however, will start on the soft tyres, Verstappen moving to that rubber after he flat-spotted his medium tyres in Q2.

Lewis gave credit to Max for the stunning Pole lap, “Max did a great lap and we couldn’t answer that today. He fully deserves the pole. But we think we’re in a good position with our tyres tomorrow and we’re hoping for a good race. I’m still on the front row and we’ll navigate from there”

Norris earned his best start since taking pole in Sochi seven races ago with third, with Perez putting two Red Bulls in the top-four at Yas Marina for the first time in the turbo-hybrid era.

“I went pole, didn’t quite work out, I was a little bit off! It was a nice lap to be P3, it was a bit of a surprise. I kind of just want to see everything unfold, but I don’t want to get involved too much”– said Lando Norris with lots of smile on his face.

Importantly Perez will start fourth, ahead of a very quick Carlos Sainz, who appeared to have made big gains after a difficult Friday, with Bottas down in sixth in his final Grand Prix for Mercedes ahead of a move to Alfa Romeo.

Charles Leclerc was seventh, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda – who could have been higher, having sat third before having his lap deleted for track limits – with Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo completing the top 10.

Fernando Alonso set to start in P11 ahead of Pierre Gasly in P12 . With Ocon was ninth, The Frenchman securing the qualifying head-to-head with team mate Fernando Alonso 12-10 for 2021 season.