Verstappen storms to pole position ahead of Perez in Abu Dhabi qualifying

Max Verstappen will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the front of the pack after claiming pole position in the final qualifying session of the year.

Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez secured P2, ahead of Charles Leclerc in third, while Carlos Sainz will line up in fourth.

Lewis Hamilton clinched fifth, with George Russell in sixth and Lando Norris seventh. Esteban Ocon, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo complete the top 10.

Perez narrowly missed out on provisional pole at the end of the first runs following a slight wobble, while Verstappen posted the fastest time ahead of Sainz.

Vettel completed just one flying lap in the session for his final F1 qualifying before his impending retirement.

Ricciardo, meanwhile, will take a three-place grid drop after being found at fault for a collision with Kevin Magnussen last time out in Brazil.

Alonso misses out in Q2

The Mercedes drivers were the first to put laps in as Q2 got underway. Hamilton arrived into the session having avoided punishment following a stewards' investigation over a red flag infringement during Free Practice 3.

Perez led the way at the end of the first runs, putting himself four tenths of a second clear of teammate Verstappen before Hamilton slotted in-between them.

Verstappen reported struggling with grip over the team radio, despite being on fresh tyres.

Leclerc greatly improved during the final runs to go up to P2, while Norris and Vettel both got themselves into Q3.

Fernando Alonso – in his final qualifying for Alpine before his 2023 move to Aston Martin – found himself in the elimination zone, finishing the session in P11.

The other drivers to miss out on Q3 were Yuki Tsunoda (P12), Mick Schumacher (P13), Lance Stroll (P14) and Zhou Guanyu (P15).

A hectic end to Q1

It was a busy start to Q1, with several cars heading straight out under the lights of the Yas Marina Circuit.

Vettel was amongst the first to put an early lap in for his final F1 qualifying session, while father Norbert Vettel watched on from the Aston Martin garage.

There was a slight issue for Verstappen, who reported over the team radio that his headrest may be broken. This didn't seem to stop the Red Bull driver from sitting at the top of the timesheets for much of the session after topping the first runs.

During a frantic end to the final round of laps – with many drivers facing issues with traffic – Alonso just scraped through to avoid elimination, while the drivers who failed to make it out of Q1 were Magnussen (P16), Pierre Gasly (P17), Valtteri Bottas (P18), Alex Albon (P19) and Nicholas Latifi (P20), in what will be the Canadian's final race in F1 for the time being.