Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Max Verstappen beats Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to pole position for title decider

Russell looked at times as if he might become an interloper in the title fight – and he may yet be if he gets a good start – but after a messy session with a few mistakes on his laps, the Briton ended up 0.438secs off the pace in fourth.

Leclerc dragged the Ferrari into fifth after another difficult session for the team.

His lap in second qualifying was lurid, and he said over the radio that he was “surprised” to make it through because he was “driving like rallying”.

Team-mate Hamilton suffered his third consecutive knockout in the first session and said he had “no answer” as to his lack of performance. He was 0.231secs behind Leclerc in the first session.

He had earlier crashed in final practice after losing the car into Turn Nine. “The car was feeling great, just had some bottoming and lost the back end,” he said.

Alonso ended Aston Martin’s season on a relative high with sixth place on the grid – and in so doing became the only driver on the grid to complete a grand prix qualifying clean sweep over his team-mate.

Alonso is 24-0 over Lance Stroll, and the Canadian has beaten him only once over one lap all season, in sprint qualifying in China at the second race of the season.

Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Tsunoda completed the top 10, with British Haas driver Oliver Bearman in 11th.