Max Verstappen shouted all his joy. “This feels so good! Great! Great, ”the Red Bull star cheered on the pit radio and celebrated the third pole position of his Formula 1 career like a victory. The Dutchman had every reason to be happy, because he had achieved a real rarity: For the first time this season, the third place in the World Championship left both cars of series world champion Mercedes behind in qualifying. On the Abu Dhabi circuit, where overtaking is hardly possible, that could be half the battle.
“That is a good sign for everyone. I’m very satisfied, everything came together, ”said Verstappen, who undercut the strong lap times of Valtteri Bottas and record world champion Lewis Hamilton by a few hundredths in the last time hunt of the year.
Disillusionment at Mercedes
15 times this year a Mercedes was in first place on the grid, only in the chaos qualifying in Turkey did the Canadian Lance Stroll “get lost” at the Racing Point on pole position. Under regular conditions, however, the Silver Arrows had previously been unbeatable in the time hunt. “We now have very good chances if we get away well at the start,” said Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko on the Sky microphone.
A bit of disillusionment, however, made itself felt at Mercedes. “We didn’t get 100 percent out of the tires. But tomorrow is the day that counts, ”explained Bottas, who is still fighting for second place in the World Cup against Verstappen – and who certified team manager Toto Wolff with a“ strong performance ”. Pole would still have been extremely important for the Finn: since he lost the World Cup to Hamilton, Bottas has been in a performance gap. Recently there were rumors that Mercedes could replace him with George Russell in 2021 despite the contract.
Little confidence in Vettel
The previous week in Bahrain he had excellently represented Hamilton, who had suffered from the corona virus. The “original” was already in good shape after surviving the infection and was “just very grateful to be back with the team and to finish this strong season”.
Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, is not very confident about the race on Sunday (2.10 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker on Formula 1 as well as on RTL and Sky). The Heppenheimer, who gives his farewell performance in the Ferrari, did not get past 13th place. The four-time world champion missed a starting position in the top 10 for the 14th time in the 17th race of the season.
“I’m so far satisfied with my laps. I didn’t have the feeling that there was more to it, ”said the 33-year-old, who after six years at Scuderia is drawn to Aston Martin in the new year. The former Ferrari hopefuls only stood on the podium once in this disappointing season. A second is unlikely to be added on Sunday.
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