Red Bull's Max Verstappen landed a big blow in his winner-takes-all title battle with Lewis Hamilton by seizing pole position for Formula One's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday
Mercedes' seven times world champion Hamilton will line up alongside on the front row, with Verstappen on the quicker soft tyres for the start and the Briton going for the more durable mediums.
"I didn't expect that, but amazing job guys," said the Dutch 24-year-old over the team radio after being told he had secured pole under the Yas Marina floodlights for the second successive season. The pole was Verstappen's 10th of the 22-race season, more than anyone else, and he was helped with a vital slipstream 'tow' down the straights behind his ever-helpful Mexican team mate Sergio Perez, who qualified fourth.Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas qualified only sixth in his last race for Mercedes.Team boss Christian Horner said Verstappen's lap of one minute 22.
Hamilton had been fastest in practice and the first phase of qualifying but Verstappen was top in the second phase after he 'flat-spotted' his set of medium tyres and switched to the soft Pirellis.Hamilton had lapped nearly half a second faster than Verstappen to top the first session ahead of Bottas, with both doing a run more than the Red Bull driver, but ended up with a best effort of 1:22.480.
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