Mick Schumacher achieved a respectable success as a temporary farewell to Formula 1: In the qualification for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he clearly won the Haas-internal duel. Sebastian Vettel makes it into the top ten. World champion Max Verstappen takes pole position for the season finale.
Sebastian Vettel once again made it into the top ten of the starting grid at his farewell performance. The four-time Formula 1 World Champion secured ninth place in qualifying for his last Grand Prix and thus equaled his best result of the season. World champion Max Verstappen confidently took pole position. In qualifying in Abu Dhabi, the Red Bull driver beat his teammates Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.
In the fight for the vice world championship behind Verstappen, Perez is slightly ahead of Leclerc: Both go into the last race of the season on Sunday (2 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) with the same number of points, but Monegasse Leclerc is currently because of the more victories achieved wafer-thin World Cup second.
“I’m happy that both cars are on the front row of the grid,” said Verstappen. “We want to win the race. But we also want Checo to be runner-up in the world.” A week ago in São Paulo, Verstappen made headlines because he didn’t want to help Perez. Red Bull subsequently referred to errors in communication, but the reasons for the tensions were not publicly worked out. Verstappen, who is on pole for the 20th time in Formula 1, still has his own goals: On Sunday, the dominator can extend his record to 15 victories this season.
Mick Schumacher, who has to vacate his cockpit at Haas after two years, defeated his teammate Kevin Magnussen in his last Formula 1 qualifying for the time being. The Dane, who will drive for the US racing team alongside returning Nico Hülkenberg in 2023, only finished 16th. Schumacher will start from 13th place. His best option for the coming year is probably a commitment as a reserve driver.
Record world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) finished fifth and threatens to end a season without a win for the first time in 16 Formula 1 years. For the 35-year-old Vettel, where he won his first title in 2010, it is only marginally about the sporting side. He knows that the last race will “probably not be the highlight of my career,” he said.
There is plenty of room for emotions. So father Norbert Vettel surprised his famous son on Friday in the team garage with the first racing helmet, the first racing gloves and the first overall. Mick Schumacher and Fernando Alonso wear helmets in Abu Dhabi in the typical Vettel design: white with black, red and gold.
Vettel, on the other hand, had an appointment with all his fellow drivers for dinner on Thursday, and for Saturday evening he invited the entire paddock to run a final lap on the track with him and take an XXL group photo. His ex-team Ferrari gave him an engine cover, and the words “Thank you Seb” were emblazoned countless times in the paddock.
Vettel contests his 299th Grand Prix on Sunday. He won 53 races, for the first time in 2008 in Monza in the defeated Toro Rosso, most recently in 2019 in Singapore for Ferrari. The Hessian was on pole position 57 times. From 2010 to 2013 he won the Drivers’ World Championship. In 2009, 2017 and 2018 he was Vice World Champion.