Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, getting the better of Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in a session that saw Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton suffer respective Q1 and Q2 eliminations.

After some significant set-up struggles during practice, reigning world champion Verstappen returned to form in qualifying to set the pace from the outset, with his initial lap of 1m 23.445s in the final Q3 phase enough to secure top spot.

Charles Leclerc was Verstappen’s nearest rival, leading Ferrari’s charge in the absence of team mate Sainz, who rued traffic en route to his Q1 exit, while Piastri capitalised on a mistake from team mate Lando Norris to take third.

Like Leclerc, fourth-placed George Russell flew the flag for Mercedes in the pole position shootout after Hamilton failed to make the cut, with Norris back in fifth thanks to a wild moment on his final run, followed by the high-flying AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.

However, there could be a twist in the tale after qualifying, with both Piastri and Gasly under investigation by the stewards over an apparent impeding incident during the closing stages of the session.

Russell’s progression to Q3 came at the expense of Hamilton, who fell at the second qualifying hurdle in 11th, leaving him to question what was wrong with his car, with Ocon and Stroll following in 12th and 13th for Alpine and Aston Martin.