F1: Teamwork sets Red Bull pair on front row

For the final time this season, drivers and teams prepared themselves for Qualifying at the Yas Marina Circuit. Sebastian Vettel would also be preparing himself for the final F1 qualifying session of his career which proved to be emotional.

Qualifying 1

Vettel would be one of the first drivers to put in a lap time as the Aston Martin team push early. Conditions seemed perfect with all drivers on soft tyres as the clock began to tick down, the two Red Bull drivers put in quick times early in the session.

Although Red Bull was topping the time sheets, not everything was going smoothly. Max Verstappen reported to the team that he has a broken headrest.

Once the drivers headed out for their final runs of the session, it was Vettel in the drop zone who needed a good lap to get him through to Q2. With 30 seconds on the clock, Vettel jumped up to fifth fastest after a great lap.

The order was constantly changing as the first part of Qualifying ended. Once the dust settled it was Magnussen, Gasly, Bottas, Albon, and Latifi who dropped out of the first part of qualifying.

Qualifying 2

Drivers again took to the track as soon as possible, as frustrations started to rise because of drivers going slow on the racing line. Verstappen had issues again, as the Dutch driver complained of a lack of grip from his car.

All drivers opted for the soft tyre again, as the temperature began to drop slightly. Sergio Perez continued his form as he went to the top of Q2 with five minutes to go. Further down the field, it was Fernando Alonso who was at risk of dropping to the bottom five early on, as the drivers prepared for their final runs.

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest sector one, which he would drop off slightly in the second sector. This lap would slot him into fifth place and out of risk for the moment. Alonso managed to get a better lap putting him briefly into the top 10, which he would be pushed down by Lando Norris seconds later.

Once the chequered flag flew, it would be Alonso, Tsunoda, Schumacher, Stroll, and Zhou who were knocked out of Qualifying.

Qualifying 3

Both Red Bull cars were late out of the garage, when, Max Verstappen’s car had an issue. This issue caused Max to not be able to give his teammate a slipstream on the first run.

Mercedes seemed to struggle with pace once again, as both cars were more than half a second off after their first runs. Both Norris and Ricciardo left their first laps until late in the session as they attempted to tame their McLarens.

Vettel would jump up to seventh, on the limit of his car putting an almost identical time to Q2. This heroic effort saw him go ninth on the grid.

Verstappen would help his teammate on the second run, as the Red Bull drivers tried to work as a team.  This strategy would prove to work as Verstappen improved his time and Perez jumped up to second position, and on the front row.

Leclerc and Sainz could not match the pace of the Red Bulls. As the clock hit zero no one could improve which led to a Red bull front-row lockout, with Leclerc in third.

Excitement has already started to build for the final race of the year, as we await to see who will claim second in the championship. The race will start at 13:00 GMT.

Image from Red Bull Media House