F1 Abu Dhabi GP Live Commentary and Updates – Qualifying
Minute-by-minute updates for qualifying for the 2024 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The F1 season reaches a climax in Abu Dhabi with McLaren and Ferrari set to battle it out for glory on the constructors' championship.
Off-track, a war of words between Max Verstappen and George Russell has stolen the spotlight from drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, who are either racing with teams for the last time or are making potentially their final appearance in the category.
Charles Leclerc topped first practice but picked up a 10-place grid penalty for a battery change, as Lando Norris headed a McLaren 1-2 in FP2 and Oscar Piastri repeated the McLaren dominance in FP3.
Qualifying starts at 2:00pm GMT.
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That wraps up Abu Dhabi GP qualifying live coverage, thanks for joining us and we'll be back tomorrow for the final race of 2024! Join us for the build-up ahead of lights out at 1pm GMT. Until then have a lovely rest of your Saturday.
So after all that, by our current count, Hulkenberg is the only driver facing a post-qualifying investigation, having allegedly overtaken at pit exit in Q1.
TV star and muscle man Terry Crews presents Norris with his mini Pirelli tyre for securing pole position to round out the Abu Dhabi GP qualifying fun.
Ah, scratch that, it appears Sainz will not face further action as the updates flash up on the timing screen. The FIA has also confirmed, as things stand, Hamilton will start from 16th and Leclerc from 19th when all penalties are applied.
Further trouble for Ferrari? Sainz (third) will be investigated after the session for failing to follow the race directors' instructions. Hulkenberg (fourth) is facing the same situation from Q1.
Norris on Abu Dhabi GP pole: "A perfect day for us, probably a little bit tougher than before as we've been strong all weekend. My lap was strong so just what we wanted from today."
Gasly took sixth for Alpine ahead of Russell, Alonso, Bottas and Perez who rounds out the top 10.
"Yes, beautiful job, well done team, 1-2," Norris says over team radio. He is restrained in his celebrations as he knows that is only half of the job done.
Verstappen fails to improve, so Norris is on pole for the Abu Dhabi GP! It is a McLaren 1-2, with Sainz in third and Hulkenberg in fourth which sees Verstappen slide down to fifth. What a qualifying session that was.
Norris takes pole off his team-mate with a 1m22.595s!
Now Piastri is on pole with a 1m22.804s... this is anyone's pole!
Hulkenberg goes on to provisional pole! A 1m22.886s!
Perez goes fourth fastest on his final Q3 lap. He must now wait and see what the rest can do.
Verstappen is on provisional pole by 0.004s over Norris as things stand. By the barest of margins. Final Q3 laps coming up.
Piastri indeed gets his lap time reinstated, so he goes back up to third. That is the right decision. On we go with four minutes to go in Q3.
Does Piastri have a case for that lap to be reinstated? It looked very similar to Perez's Q1 case and certainly not as bad as Leclerc's Q2 case.
Piastri had gone second quickest but he loses his lap time for track limits at Turn 1. But Norris slots into second ahead of Sainz, Hulkenberg ad Gasly.
Verstappen almost in the wall! He gets a massive slide out of the final turn and nearly goes head-on into the pitwall but manages to get his car under control to get to the finish line and go fastest with a 1m22.945s. Wow!
First lap times coming in but most drivers are on used soft tyres, except Verstappen, who held on to two sets of softs for Q3.
Nine out of 10 drivers on the track for their opening Q3 runs. Just Bottas left in the pits, presumably because he has no new softs left.
So, Ferrari is basically fighting with just one car against McLaren's two with a 21-point deficit to overhaul. It is a big, big ask for Ferrari from here on out. Off we go for Q3.
Replays of Leclerc's Turn 1 off are conclusive, he definitely slides off the track and over the white lines, while earlier Perez was just inside it. Fine margins.
"That's as fast as she goes," Bottas remarks having made it into Q3. He might be leaving F1 at the end of the weekend, but he is going out on a high.
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Bottas breaks into Q3 and that pushes out Tsunoda! Out in Q2: 11. Tsunoda, 12. Lawson, 13. Stroll, 14. Leclerc*, 15. Magnussen
*10-place grid penalty.
Leclerc goes fastest - but then has his lap time deleted for track limits at Turn 1! He drops down to 13th and with his grid penalty he will be starting from last place.
The chequered flag is out as Stroll nips into the top 10 - only to be immediately dumped out by team-mate Alonso.
Gasly improves to third and that pushes Leclerc into the drop zone.
Hulkenberg leaps up to second place, but Magnussen can only improve to 11th so he is effectively out in Q2 already.
"The AlphaTauri was over the limit," Leclerc says as they tussle for position coming out of the pits. There are 14 drivers on track so hopefully they find each other space.
Verstappen takes his helmet off so he seems content with his Q2. Everyone else is crawling out of the pits for the final runs.
In the drop zone after the first runs are: Alonso, Stroll, Magnussen, Bottas, Gasly.
Piastri slots into third, a tenth back on Norris, but that top three look well placed to make it into Q3 with seven minutes to go in this session.
Norris is the nearest challenger so far with a 1m23.098s on used soft tyres, so the deficit is 0.1s to Verstappen. Elsewhere, Leclerc saves a massive slide out of Turn 14 and narrowly avoids the barrier.
Verstappen sets the time to beat in Q2: a 1m22.998s. That's an impressive lap - half a second quicker than his pole time from 12 months ago at the same track.
Hulkenberg will be investigated after qualifying for failing to follow the race directors' instructions.
The near-miss in Q1 between Russell and Lawson has been reviewed but there will be no further investigation by the stewards. I wonder what Verstappen will think of that given his beef with Russell in Qatar.
Perez was furious with Red Bull for making him go out again in Q1 having argued for his earlier lap time deletion to be reviewed. It did mean he used up a set of soft tyres, but he is into Q2, so off we go again.
A messy end to Q1 all things considered, but off we go again for Q2.
The start of Q2 has been delayed, but will start in three minutes after some quick track repairs.
By: Haydn Cobb
