Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured the final pole position of the F1 season on Saturday 25th November with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joining him on the 1st row in Abu Dhabi on the Yas Marina Circuit.
Mclaren’s Oscar Piastri qualified 3rd after a nervous wait for the stewards to clear him of a penalty. He was joined by Mercedes’s George Russel who took 4th position.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez took 2nd place on the track after Leclerc let him pass by on the penultimate lap, as he tried to secure second place in the constructor's championship for Ferrari alongside Mercedes.
That then allowed George Russel to slide into 3rd place with Hamilton in 9th place securing a small but significant 2 points which allowed Mercedes to keep 2nd place by 3 points.
On the final lap Leclerc could have chosen to delay Russell by backing off but instead decided to keep at his pace, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff said: “At the end, he could have pulled the handbrake on in the last sector, and I think that shows the character of a driver”.
Leclerc was able to jump over both Lando Norris and teammate Carlos Sainz to take 5th place in the drivers' championship behind Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
The race finished with a final Verstappen win of the season!