Max Verstappen landed the first big blow in his winner-takes-all title battle with Lewis Hamilton by seizing pole position for Formula One's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday.
Mercedes' seven-times world champion Hamilton will line up alongside on the front row, with Verstappen on the quicker soft tyres for the start and the Briton going for the more durable mediums.
Booed by some in the crowd as he was doing television interviews under the floodlights, the Briton said his rival deserved to be on pole. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said it was 1-0 to Red Bull but Hamilton would be fired up for Sunday's day to night race. "I obviously don’t want to really get involved too much because it can cause a lot of controversy," he said.Team boss Christian Horner said Verstappen's lap of one minute 22.109 seconds was 'insane' and one of his best, even if the Dutch driver sounded remarkably relaxed.
AlphaTauri's Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda lines up eighth, Alpine Esteban Ocon ninth and McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10.
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