Winners and losers from the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying

Max Verstappen is keeping the pressure on in the title fight, with the Dutch driver beating both McLaren in qualifying in Abu Dhabi.

Here is PlanetF1.com’s full list of winners and losers from the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying session.

Winners and losers from the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying

Winner: Max Verstappen

On a weekend which is just as much about mind management and mental fortitude as it is about outright speed, Max Verstappen unleashed the exact type of performance that amplifies the pressure on his rivals right when they would least have wanted it.

Throughout practice, Lando Norris looked to have seized the initiative for the weekend with the fastest time in all three sessions, as he continued at the front following his win at the same venue last year.

But Verstappen is a master at ramping up his performance in qualifying and he made the most of a sacrificial tow from Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda to go almost three-tenths clear of the McLarens on the first runs.

As he revealed later, he wasn’t enamoured with the idea of the narrative of the tow dominating the post-qualifying discourse so he went back out and promptly beat his tow-assisted time without Tsunoda’s assistance.

It was the type of performance that is quintessential Max Verstappen, a display of rampant superiority at a critical moment, and it’s given him the high ground to start Sunday’s race.

As he said afterwards, taking pole position and being at the front is the only factor under his control if he’s to win this title, and that’s exactly what he’s done.

“When the pressure is the highest or when you really need to perform, normally I perform because I enjoy that kind of aspect,” he said.

The Dutch driver is now in a position where he can set out to thoroughly bother the two McLarens behind, with tactics such as slowing the pace to allow cars behind to apply pressure on Norris and Piastri to be expected.

After all, Verstappen needs more than a straightforward win. Scampering off into the distance won’t be enough to secure a fifth title if Norris finishes in the top three, so the tactic will surely be to attempt to disrupt the pace and flow of the race, behave unpredictably, and, critically, attempt to goad McLaren and Norris into a mistake under pressure.

Add to that the likelihood that a slow pace will likely bring Yuki Tsunoda into play, as well as the chance of strategic cooperation from the Racing Bulls, and the knowledge that Verstappen won’t allow Sunday’s race to play out in straightforward manner could weigh on the McLaren drivers’ minds overnight.

But such tactics are all contingent on maintaining the lead at the start…

Loser: Oscar Piastri

It’s a mild ‘Lose’ for Piastri following the qualifying session at Yas Marina, but the Australian’s already tenuous championship hopes took a further blow as he qualified behind both of his rivals.

Acknowledging that he “needs things to happen in the race to win the championship”, Piastri explained that the time set by Verstappen wasn’t beatable in his eyes.

“The tiny little margins that you always have on a qualifying lap were probably there,” he said, “but I didn’t have an answer for Max’s pace today. So ultimately, pretty happy. Would have loved a bit more, but we didn’t have it.”

As for the long-run pace, Piastri said he’d have liked them to “have gone a bit better”, suggesting that Verstappen’s race pace had looked impressive during the longer runs in practice.

Starting on the back foot behind Norris means that the start will be particularly critical for the Australian if he’s to seize strategic preference against Verstappen, but, given his 16-point deficit, Piastri will be praying for something a little more dramatic than that if he’s to take the title.

Winner: Lando Norris

Lando Norris doesn’t need to perform heroics this weekend in order to secure the title, given his 12-point lead.

Just a podium finish, while equipped with the most versatile car of the season, sounds relatively straightforward to achieve, provided that he doesn’t trap himself into a mental spiral after being bested by Verstappen yet again.

In Las Vegas, Norris’ start showed that he can still be spooked by Verstappen, but the key difference for this Sunday’s race is that he simply does not need to beat the four-time F1 World Champion.

Second-place, right behind Verstappen, is a perfect position to be in, even if Verstappen does decide to make life awkward by engaging in unusual tactics.

Given the indication that team orders will come into play to help Norris if the situation does evolve in such a way that the title could slip away, the chessboard is set up nicely for the British driver.

After all, while Verstappen may seek to back the pack up to allow Norris to come under pressure from Piastri and the likes of Charles Leclerc and George Russell, the circuit itself is one that offers decent overtaking opportunities – one slight misstep from Verstappen, and Norris could find a way past and remove Verstappen’s positional high ground.

The concern for Norris will be Verstappen’s straight-line speed advantage that could prove frustrating.

Mental fortitude hasn’t always been Norris’ greatest strength but, if he keeps his cool in second and Piastri continues to be a respectful (ie. placid) teammate, then it’s difficult to see how Verstappen can hamper Norris to the tune of a 12-point swing.

Loser: Lewis Hamilton

“I don’t have the words to express how I feel,” said a disconsolate Lewis Hamilton after qualifying in 16th and eliminated early doors once again.

Fresh off the back of two Q1 exits (three if you count Sprints), Hamilton’s first season with Ferrari looks set to peter out with little sign of an end to the ignominious form he’s shown recently.

Things looked to have started improving towards the end of the European season, but Hamilton’s tail-off in performance in the final quarter has been alarming.

The worst part for Hamilton is that he doesn’t appear to have a clear idea as to why he’s struggling.

His crash in FP3 looked like a mechanical problem could have been to blame for his sudden loss of control, but Ferrari sources later indicated to PlanetF1.com that there had been no mechanical issue and that the crash had been entirely due to a driving error.

On a day in which he was one of the slowest drivers on track in qualifying, as well as having binned the car in a practice session, Hamilton revealed that he currently has no plans on what steps to take to try picking himself back up over the winter to tackle the new regulation cycle with renewed vigour.

With poor performance, relative to the whole field and not just his teammate Charles Leclerc (in fifth), Hamilton simply must hope that 2026 allows him to recapture some of his old performance level. Otherwise, the timing of his career concluding will not be a decision he has any choice in.

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Winner: Yuki Tsunoda

Tsunoda may be “disappointed and p***ed off” with himself after being dropped from the Red Bull driving line-up for F1 2026, but the Japanese driver has remained professional throughout the weekend.

Opting against being critical of his employer when he spoke to media on Thursday, Ysunoda did the job expected of him in qualifying by sacrificing his own Q3 attempt in order to give Verstappen a helpful tow (even if the Dutch driver later proved he didn’t need it).

Tsunoda went into qualifying under a cloud, having needed to revert back to an old floor on his RB21 after his was damaged in the silly pitlane incident with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli for which Tsunoda was blameless, in FP3.

But Tsunoda picked himself up, duly made it into Q3, and showed his character by doing his best to help his teammate.

It’s not unthinkable that he could play a huge part in the outcome of the title fight, on the very weekend that Red Bull confirmed that he is to be demoted from his seat.

His Abu Dhabi performance is coming too little, too late, to save his place on the grid for now, but his professional attitude and a willingness to sacrifice his own race, much like Sergio Perez did at the same race in 2021, could go a long way towards giving him a headstart towards a new opportunity.

Loser: Nico Hulkenberg

While Gabriel Bortoleto made it into Q3 to take seventh place in his Sauber, Nico Hulkenberg was knocked out in Q1.

Single-lap pace has been a sporadic issue for Hulkenberg throughout F1 2025, but the issue on this occasion appeared to be more down to execution of the session as he explained that he and his crew had “tanked it ourselves”.

This was down to encountering traffic on his final run which disturbed his attempt.

Winner: Esteban Ocon

Making it into Q3 to take eighth-place on the grid, Esteban Ocon couldn’t hide his joy when he spoke to the media after qualifying following a spate of difficult results and being generally upstaged by his rookie teammate Ollie Bearman.

But, after Friday, Ocon and his crew changed “parameters you wouldn’t think of” as he tried something completely different with the setup of his VF-25.

While not being quite sure why his changes had worked, worked they did, with Ocon revealing that he had corner stability and a confidence in braking he hasn’t felt for most of the second half of the season.

He also explained that he had hit the “lowest point possible” with the car on Friday, before the setup overhaul gave him back his confidence.

It may have come late, but Ocon appears to be entering the short winter break feeling considerably more optimistic about having finally figured out the direction with which to take his car for the future.

Loser: Kimi Antonelli

Qualifying slipped away from Kimi Antonelli, who had found himself involved in a pitlane incident in FP3 that was not of his own making.

Four-tenths quicker than George Russell in Q1, the balance of his W14 shifted somewhat in Q2, meaning that the Italian was left battling with snaps of oversteer, creating rising tyre temperatures.

With the rear of his car giving him no confidence, Antonelli couldn’t match what he had done in Q1, meaning he was knocked out and down in 14th having dropped two-tenths of pace between the two sessions.

In contrast, Russell found half a second in the same timespan and went on to take fourth on the grid.

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