While Max Verstappen was "incredibly happy" with taking pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he insisted he would need a lot of luck to win his fifth straight Formula One title. 

Verstappen took pole for the season finale at Yas Marina Circuit, finishing ahead of title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after a brilliant last qualifying session on Saturday.

The Dutchman finished 0.201 seconds ahead of Norris, who he trails by 12 points in the drivers' standings. Piastri, meanwhile, was in turn 0.092 seconds adrift of his team-mate. 

Norris knows that a podium finish on Sunday will see him become the 11th British driver to be world champion, but Verstappen so often thrives at the Abu Dhabi track. 

Indeed, Verstappen has now taken pole position in five of the last six editions, while only Lewis Hamilton (five) has more race wins in Abu Dhabi than the Red Bull man (four). 

If Verstappen converts his pole into an eighth win of 2025, he could become only the second driver, after Michael Schumacher, to win five titles in a row, but he will also need Norris to finish in fourth place or lower. 

"We will find out tomorrow, let's see what we can do," Verstappen said after securing his eighth pole position of the season. 

"I will try to win the race but also, in the back of my mind, we want to score a lot of points to still try and win that championship.

"We need a bit of luck with what's happening behind us."

Mr. Saturday in 2025 Eighth Pole of the season #F1 || #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/VPQG1E0fKG

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) December 6, 2025

Verstappen and Norris had been closely matched so far this weekend, though the McLaren driver appeared to have the slight advantage after topping the FP2 timesheets by 0.363 seconds on Friday.

But Verstappen turned the tables when it mattered with two rapid laps in the decisive Q3 session to ensure he started at the front. 

It means all three title hopefuls will start at the top of the grid, with Verstappen aiming to replicate a similar performance in the grand prix in his bid for history.

"Well, in Q2 I stayed on scrubbed tyres, and I think those laps already felt quite decent," said Verstappen afterwards, having experienced some balance issues in practice.

"Then in Q3, around here the track temp is coming down, you know that you can push a bit more, and that's exactly what we did.

"We found a bit more lap time and, of course, I'm incredibly happy to be in first. That's the only thing that we can do, right? That's the only thing that we can control.

"I try to just maximise everything we have, what we have with the car, and we definitely did that in qualifying."

Mercedes' George Russell will start fourth with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fifth and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso sixth.

Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon, Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10, but it was another day to forget for Hamilton, who could not get out of Q1 and will start the race down in 16th.