Abu Dhabi GP 2021: Max Verstappen Beats Lewis Hamilton to Thrilling Pole for Title-Decider

Abu Dhabi, December 11: Max Verstappen took a crushing pole place on Saturday - with the assistance of a tow from Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez - to seize the benefit over rival Lewis Hamilton for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Dutchman clocked a superb 1m22.109s on his first run to take a tenth pole place of the season, with Hamilton 0.371s off the tempo to find yourself second with Lando Norris a shock third place. Red Bull despatched Perez out on observe first in Q3, forward of Verstappen, with the Mexican towing Verstappen down the lengthy straight earlier than bailing out of the best way earlier than Turn 9 and sacrificing his personal lap. Verstappen made the a lot of the enhance to slot into the provisional pole, with Hamilton locking up on the hairpin and ending up almost half a second adrift. Mercedes despatched their vehicles out first for the second run, however with Hamilton forward of Bottas as they turned down the chance to attempt a tow. Hamilton improved, however he was behind in all three sectors and as an alternative will begin on the soiled facet of the entrance row alongside his title rival in P2. However, like his workforce mate Bottas, Hamilton will begin on the more sturdy medium tyre that ought to enable him to run deeper into the race earlier than stopping. The Red Bulls, nonetheless, will begin on the gentle tyres, Verstappen transferring to that rubber after he flat-spotted his medium tyres in Q2. Perez will begin fourth, forward of a really fast Carlos Sainz, who appeared to have made large positive factors after a tough Friday, with Bottas down in sixth in his remaining Grand Prix for Mercedes forward of a transfer to Alfa Romeo. Charles Leclerc was seventh, forward of Yuki Tsunoda - who might have been greater, having sat third earlier than having his lap deleted for observe limits - with Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo finishing the highest 10. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, SociallyKeeda Staff might not have modified or edited the content material physique)