Max Verstappen has beaten his McLaren title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to pole position in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
On Saturday, December 6, the Red Bull star was 0.201 seconds ahead of Norris, who edged Piastri by 0.029 sec.
As of now, the British driver is leading by 12 points going into the final race of the season, with Piastri a further four adrift of Norris.
The F1 world would see Verstappen winning a fifth consecutive title if he won the race with Norris in fourth or lower.
Mercedes' George Russell will start fourth, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fifth and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso sixth on Sunday.
While for Lewis Hamilton, the season is seemingly ending on a disastrous note, as he crashed his Ferrari in Practice 2 and was knocked out in the first part of qualifying. He will start 16th.
Talking about the result, Verstappen said, "Incredibly happy to be in first. That's the only thing we can do; try to maximise everything with the car. And we certainly did that in qualifying."
Referring to his first world championship in 2021, which he won in Abu Dhabi, he added, "It felt pretty good, and there was a lot of pressure. It felt pretty similar to '21. I had a pretty good lap then. But when the pressure to perform is on, I enjoy that."
Notably, Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina starts at 13:00 GMT.
