Red Bull director has costly qualifying session

Helmut Marko had bet Christian Horner 500 euros that Max Verstappen would not finish on the first row of the grid for the Grand Prix.

The Dutch driver put in one of his usual impressive performances to pip Charles Leclerc to first place on the grid for the race.

“Helmut learnt his lesson, never bet against me” Verstappen exclaimed after qualifying.

Welcome to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The final race of the F1 season is upon us, after a campaign that has been all about one person.

Max Verstappen has dominated the sport once again and has been in a different league to his competitors as they seemed unable to challenge him in most races.

It seems apt that we head into the final race of the season with the Dutch driver on pole position as he looks to go out with a bang despite struggling in most of qualifying.

Charles Leclerc continued his good form in the second half of the season as he finished just behind the Red Bull in second place on the grid.

McLaren continued to impress as Oscar Piastri finished in third place and his teammate Lando Norris managed to get fifth spot after a slide on one turn cost him the chance to challenge for the top places.

The Mercedes of George Russell finished in fourth spot while Lewis Hamilton continued to fail to impress as he finished eleventh on the grid, outside the top ten for the second race in a row.

Yuki Tsunoda finished in sixth place in what was an impressive result for AlphaTauri and they will be hoping he can take this form into the race itself.