As it happened: 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying

This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.

Qualifying for the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is coming up next

McLaren have looked like the team to beat for much of the weekend so far in Abu Dhabi. But at the end of the season all the teams know their cars well and it would be no surprise if some leave it until the later stages of the upcoming session to reveal their true performance.

Qualifying at Yas Marina can often be a tricky session to read. The sun is setting and track temperatures fall quickly across Q1, Q2 and Q3. Drivers and teams need to make accurate judgements about their wing levels to keep their cars operating at their best.

Q1 is go! No one heading out immediately for this one though.

Fernando Alonso has gone out to scrub another set of hard tyres, as he did in final practice, but unusually so are the Mercedes drivers. Lance Stroll on softs is pushing for a time.

Stroll does a 1’24.366. The Red Bull drivers are among those now out on sets of soft tyres.

Perez’s first attempt at a time is scrubbed because he went beyond track limits at turn one. Colapinto loses his too. Alexander Albon delivers a clean lap to go top, which is then beaten by Yuki Tsunoda, Max Verstappen and finally Carlos Sainz Jnr on a 1’23.487.

Haas have looked quick all weekend and Kevin Magnussen underlines that pace with a 1’23.532 which puts him third ahead of both McLarens and Leclerc.

Perez and Colapinto have returned to the pits without setting a time. The Mercedes drivers lap within four tenths of a second of Sainz – and that leaves them ninth and 10th.

Drop zone so far: Doohan, Lawson, Albon, Perez, Colapinto. The Williams drivers both have five-second time penalties.

Good news for Perez – his lap time has been reinstated. His 1’23.559 has been reinstated which puts him third fastest. Bottas falls into the drop zone along with Gasly, Colapinto having now set a time.

A huge improvement from Valtteri Bottas puts him fastest. We could see a lot of changes here. Lots of cars bunched up at the end of the lap too. Bonnington to Hamilton: “This will be tight.”

Colapinto and Zhou are out, Alonso goes 15 and puts Albon out.

Hamilton is out! He’s only 18th in his final appearance for Mercedes. He appeared to have to go around a car which was slow at the apex at turn 14. “I messed that up big-time, guys,” he says.

Hamilton: “That was bad, man.” “Yeah, shit, Lewis, that was bad.” It was Magnussen slow on the apex of turn 14, a bollard was knocked under Hamilton’s car.

Out in Q1: Albon, Zhou, Hamilton, Colapinto and Doohan.

Q2 has begun after a brief delay while the bollard Magnussen dislodged has been replaced.

Verstappen bangs in a 1’22.998 which shows a new level of pace from Red Bull. Hulkenberg is half a second down, Russell in the sole remaining Mercedes eight tenths of a second away. Norris goes a tenth of a second off the Red Bull.

After the first run the Aston Martin drivers are in the drop zone along with Magnussen, Bottas and Gasly.

Hulkenberg goes up to second, just four-hundredths of a second off Verstappen. Gasly moves up to third and gets out of the drop zone for now.

Stroll only makes it to 10th but is knocked out when Alonso takes sixth. Leclerc goes quickest but immediately loses his time for a track limits infringement – he will be eliminated.

A great lap by Bottas gets the Sauber driver into Q3. Perez also makes it in – by just four-hundredths of a second. Out in Q2: Tsunoda, Lawson, Stroll, Leclerc and Magnussen.

Q3 is go. Verstappen looks to be in a strong position as he is the only driver with two new sets of soft tyres left for this session.

Verstappen sets a 1’22.945 but he came so close to losing the car coming out of the last corner! Piastri’s first time is deleted. Sainz is third, within four tenths of a second of the Red Bull. Norris comes within four-thousandths of a second of beating him – on a used set of tyres. It’s not necessarily over yet.

Another reinstatement! Piastri gets his time back. Just when it looked like being a repeat of Austria for him. That puts him third.

Hulkenberg goes quickest! Stunning lap by the Haas driver puts him ahead by five-hundredths of a second. It doesn’t last, however – Piastri takes it off him.

Sainz up to second – and Norris takes provisional pole position. But what about Verstappen?

Verstappen fails to improve and he’s only fifth! McLaren claim the front row of the grid.

Norris tells McLaren to check Sainz’s compliance with the delta time as he caught him on their out-lap. The stewards have now noted Sainz, which could be interesting given what happened to Verstappen last week.

So we’ve got a McLaren lock-out of the front row, one Ferrari right behind them, the other at the back and Hulkenberg fourth but facing an investigation. Lots more coming soon but for now here’s our report on qualifying

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