14:05
Max and Red Bull/Honda finally usurp the Mercedes engines on a Saturday for the first time all season.
Hamilton ends up 3rd on the grid behind Bottas.
Please don’t be cruel to us tomorrow, give us the race that’s been threatened all year as we look forward to a monumental battle between the top 3.
14:02
Max Verstappen on pole!
13:58
Here we go, who will start the finale of 2020 on pole position?
13:55
First runs done, and its a Merc, Bull, Merc, Bull.
Bottas has taken the intiative going into the the final minutes, with Verstappen splitting the two drivers and sitting in 2nd. for now.
13:46
Your final top-ten shootout contenders for 2020 are:
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | 44 | Mercedes | 1:35.528 | 1:35.466 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | 77 | Mercedes | 1:35.699 | 1:35.527 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | 33 | Red Bull | 1:35.993 | 1:35.641 |
| 4 | Alexander Albon | 23 | Red Bull | 1:36.106 | 1:35.654 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | 4 | McLaren | 1:36.016 | 1:35.849 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | 16 | Ferrari | 1:35.881 | 1:35.932 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | 18 | Racing Point | 1:36.502 | 1:36.143 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | 55 | McLaren | 1:36.517 | 1:36.192 |
| 9 | Daniil Kvyat | 26 | AlphaTauri | 1:36.459 | 1:36.214 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | 10 | AlphaTauri | 1:36.545 | 1:36.282 |
13:44
Q2 Eliminations
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | 31 | Renault | 1:36.783 | 1:36.359 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | 3 | Renault | 1:36.704 | 1:36.406 |
| 13 | Sebastian Vettel | 5 | Ferrari | 1:36.655 | 1:36.631 |
| 14 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 99 | Alfa Romeo | 1:37.075 | 1:38.248 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | 11 | Racing Point | 1:36.034 | – |
13:43
Both Renaults are out of Q2 but Red Bull pull it out of the bag as Verstappen goes 3rd and Albon 4th.
13:36
Only 3 drivers are in the 1:35s so far, the usual Mercedes guys, plus, Lando Norris. Norris is looking to beat Sainz in qualy head to heads this year as they are currently 8 a-piece each.
13:32
Albon puts in a great lap beating his teammate again, but promptly loses his lap for exceeding track limits, Ricciardo also loses his lap for the same reason.
13:30
Q2 underway, we have the Mercedes straight out, both on the mediums for the race tomorrow.
The two drivers trading purple sectors, but Hamilton takes provisional pole for now.
13:23
Q1 Eliminations:
| 16 | Kimi Raikkonen | 7 | Alfa Romeo | 1:37.555 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | 20 | Haas | 1:37.863 |
| 18 | George Russell | 63 | Williams | 1:38.045 |
| 19 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 51 | Haas | 1:38.173 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | 6 | Williams | 1:38.443 |
13:22
Giovinazzi manages to go from last to Q2 with a great effort, knocking out his teammate in the process. Russell has had a bit of a thump back down to reality as he can’t replicate the heroics he so often has done this season.
13:18
The final runs coming up, bottom 5 are:
Magnussen
Fittipaldi
Russell
Latifi
Giovinazzi
13:15
Hamilton has now set a time but is behind Leclerc in 8th, Not the safest place to be in Q1 this year let’s be honest.
13:08
Early marker from a driver on the cusp of being sacked as Albon goes 7 tenths faster than Verstappen at the first go.
Bottas and Perez then take the top spots as Hamilton goes wide at the end of the lap and has his time deleted.
13:01
Mercedes sporting a slightly updated livery this weekend, as they have adorned the car with over 2000 names from the team that have contributed to this dominant season.
12:59
Green light in just a couple of minutes, no idea who is looking to take pole out of the top 3 as practice in the heat of the day in Abu Dhabi is notoriously misleading.
12:55
Good afternoon all, to this, the finale weekend of this crazy season. The champion has recovered from covid and takes his car back from the impressive stand-in George Russell from last weekend.
The young brit is back in his Williams after heartbreakingly missing out on the first win of his career. When one misses out another one gains, as a superb recovery drive from Perez gave him his first, and possibly last, win of his career. Can the Mexican give Red Bull no choice but to sign him up for next year?
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