Max Verstappen secured pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday. He will start the race from the very front of the grid. McLaren’s championship leader, Lando Norris, will line up next to him in second place on the front row. Norris’s teammate, Oscar Piastri, delivered a strong performance as well and qualified in third.
In a clever strategy by Red Bull, four-time world champion Max Verstappen was given an aerodynamic tow from his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who will start the race in 10th place. This slipstream helped Verstappen set a lap time that was 0.201 seconds faster than Lando Norris.
MAX VERSTAPPEN TAKES POLE FOR THE TITLE DECIDER!!!#F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/lu5gjpcYfK
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 6, 2025
Lando Norris is 12 points ahead of Max Verstappen in the championship, with his teammate Oscar Piastri another four points behind. If Norris finishes on the podium in Sunday’s race at Yas Marina, he will secure the championship title.
“In Q2, I stayed on scrubbed tyres and those laps already felt quite decent. Then in Q3 around here, the track temperature is coming down and you know you can push more and that’s what we did,” he said while speaking from the podium.
“We found a bit more lap time and I am incredibly happy to be in first. That’s the only thing we can do and control, to maximize what we have and what we can with the car, and we definitely did that in qualifying,” he added.
