Verstappen and McLaren, head to head against the clock

McLaren came out on top in the final qualifying session of the season, locking out the front row of the grid at the Yas Marina circuit for the third time this year, after doing the same in Monza and Budapest. Once again it was Lando Norris who took pole position ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri. The Englishman thus joins Max Verstappen at the top of the table for poles this season with eight apiece. However, it's the Dutchman who takes home the Pirelli Pole Position of the Year Award by virtue of having secured more poles in Sprint Qualifying. He was quickest in Friday qualifying on three of the six occasions and thus Verstappen takes the prize, which has been presented for the past seven seasons, for a third time, to add to the awards he won in 2021 and last year. Winning by a nose, as they say in horse racing, but a record all the same, backed up by the four-time world champion starting from the front row a total of 15 times. In fact, Norris has only had an uninterrupted view of the run down to turn 1 with no one in front of him for the Sprint on two occasions, in Imola and Spielberg, 

The battle between the two teams is actually more evenly matched, with an equal number of pole positions on Saturday and also equal in the Friday battle thanks to a Sprint Qualifying pole for Piastri in Interlagos. Therefore, to establish which of the two teams was fastest overall against the clock, one needs to take a look at the number of front row positions. This calculation puts Red Bull ahead by 10 to 7. Apart from the aforementioned seven for Verstappen and two for Norris, we can add five front starts for Piastri and three for Sergio Perez.
Two other teams have been on pole this year, Ferrari and Mercedes each laying claim to the number one grid slot four times: All the Anglo-German team's have come courtesy of George Russell, while in the Italian camp, Charles Leclerc has three and Carlos Sainz one.