Verstappen takes pole as Ferrari and Mercedes battle in final race of season
The battle between Ferrari and Mercedes for second place in the Constructors' Championship will come to a finale at Yas Marina on Sunday, as will the battle between Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso for fourth place in the Drivers' Championship.
Max Verstappen secures final pole position of the season in Abu Dhabi. / @F1
Verstappen did it again. He took pole position, his last of the season, with a time of 1:23.445.
Although it looked as though Red Bull might not be on their usual form during free practice, the Milton Keynes squad once again put paid to any chance of Max not being on the front row.
His team-mate, Mexican Checo Pérez, finished fifth but will start ninth after his time was disqualified for exceeding track limits.
Behind the Dutchman in second place was Charles Leclerc in a complete surprise. Ferrari's performance this weekend was not what was expected, or at least not enough to finish in the top three after a rather tight Q1 and Q2. However, the Monegasque finished the final lap just a tenth of a second down on Verstappen, a very important result for the whole team as they battle for second place in the Constructors' Championship, just four points behind Mercedes.
Ferrari's other half, Carlos Sainz, seems not to have recovered since Las Vegas, where his weekend was ruined by a poorly sealed manhole on the track. The Spaniard seems to be finding all the flaws in the circuit and at Yas Marina he went off the track again, severely damaging his SF-23 after hitting a bump in the track during Free Practice 2. After Carlos' incident, the area of the bump was smoothed out to prevent further damage.
Although his mechanics had the car up and running for qualifying within hours, Sainz was forced to retire early in Q3 due to traffic problems on the track, which prevented him from improving on a sixteenth place finish that looked to be a challenge for Ferrari, but Mercedes provided excitement on Sunday with the elimination of eleventh placed Lewis Hamilton in Q2. The driver was "disqualified" by his team-mate George Russell, who moved out of the elimination zone and into fourth place.
WHO WILL TAKE SECOND PLACE IN THE CONSTRUCTORS' STANDINGS?
The season comes to an end at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi, a circuit that is one of the worst for overtaking, with a first and third sector of low-speed corners that could favour Mercedes, and a second sector with two DRS zones that could favour Ferrari.
What does that mean? Sunday will be full of uncertainty for both teams.
If the result corresponds to the grid positions, with Leclerc second, Russell fourth and Hamilton and Sainz out of the points, Ferrari would take the win as Leclerc would score 18 points and Russell 12, enough to give Ferrari a 2 point advantage. But we know it is unlikely that Sainz and Hamilton will not score points.
Here are some of the possible scenarios that could hand the title to Ferrari, the team currently at a disadvantage:
Possible scenarios in the Ferrari vs Mercedes battle for second place in the constructors' standings / @Alba Carballal
After Sainz's poor qualifying, Leclerc will certainly have to do his best to hold on to second place (difficult to improve with Verstappen in front) and Carlos, for his part, will have to come from behind to score as many points as possible, preferably ahead of Hamilton. In the event of a technical tie between the two teams, Ferrari would be the winner, as Sainz's victory in Singapore earlier this year would be the deciding factor.
SPANISH BATTLE FOR FOURTH PLACE IN THE DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
While the focus is on Mercedes and Ferrari, the battle for fourth place in the Drivers' Championship is also very tight.
Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso are level on 200 points, with Norris just five points behind on 195 and Leclerc, who has a difficult but not impossible task, seven points behind the Brit on 188.
The Spanish battle will be close, with Sainz needing to move up to at least seventh, where his compatriot Fernando Alonso is, in an Aston Martin that seems to be responding well to the Abu Dhabi circuit.
Norris, meanwhile, has every chance of a good result, with many predicting him to be the favourite for a podium finish on Sunday. The Englishman was the only driver to challenge Verstappen in qualifying, but a mistake in the third sector saw him finish fifth. Team-mate Oscar Piastri qualified third and could provide Norris with some strategic help in his push for the podium with a McLaren team that is once again very strong.
It's all open and everyone's chances will depend on the strategies of their own teams and the rest of the grid in the final race of the 2023 season.
