2023 F1 ABU DHABI GP Qualifying analysis by Peter Windsor
1,945The Red Bull-Honda RB19 was far from its best on Friday - and nor did it seem massively better in FP3, on Saturday afternoon in Abu Dhabi. Come qualifying, though, and it was the dream of a racing car it's been for virtually all of the year. Max Verstappen took the pole on his first quick run in Q3 - and emphasised it with a slightly slower lap in phase two. Charles Leclerc and Ferrari recovered from a worrying FP3 to qualifying second; and third, for McLaren-Mercedes, was the young Australian rookie, Oscar Piastri, out-qualifying his team-mate, Lando Norris, in the closing seconds of Q3. Mercedes' George Russell starts P4 but Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of Q2 and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz will start P16 after missing the cut into Q2. In this video (which includes cornering comparisons between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at 04:08:00) Peter Windsor looks back at the final qualifying session of the 2023 F1 season.
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