‘F1 championship decision couldn’t be better arranged’

The climax to the Formula 1 world championship could hardly be better set up after the three title contenders qualified together at the front of the grid for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put in one of the performances of the season – and of his illustrious career – to take a scintillating pole position.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who heads into the race at 13:00 GMT as championship favourite with a 12-point lead over Verstappen, is alongside the Dutchman on the front row.

The Briton’s team-mate Oscar Piastri, 16 points off the lead, starts third, alongside Mercedes’ George Russell on the second row.

For Norris, the maths are simple – and the task looks the same.

The 26-year-old will be champion for the first time if he finishes on the podium, regardless of anyone else’s result.

Verstappen, 28, would clinch a fifth consecutive title if he wins the race with Norris in fourth, or if he is second and Norris is lower than seventh.

Australian Piastri, 24, needs some kind of misfortune to happen to his rivals if he is to win his first title. He will also head into the race knowing that there is a possibility he could be asked to move aside and help Norris win if his own hopes are over and that is needed for a McLaren driver to beat Verstappen.

Norris kept his answers after qualifying relatively short. He seems to be working hard to keep himself settled and calm as he navigates the most intense weekend of his career.

That’s understandable. Although his path to the title is relatively straightforward, the fact Verstappen’s is not threatens to make the championship leader’s race an uncomfortable one.

With the title on the line, and winning the grand prix not good enough on its own for Verstappen, the race is unlikely to be simple, and what Verstappen and Red Bull might try to get in Norris’ way remains unknown.

«No idea,» Norris said, when he was asked whether he expected Verstappen to try to back him into the pack. «I expect everything. So wait and see.»

Verstappen was asked the same question, both in his BBC Sport interview on Thursday and in the news conference after qualifying on Saturday.

The reference here is Lewis Hamilton’s race in 2016, when he drove slowly in front of Mercedes’ team-mate Nico Rosberg in an attempt to back him into Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, knowing he needed Rosberg to finish third to beat him to the title. It didn’t work.

Verstappen was given this example. His response – both times, with slightly different wording – was to point out that it would be harder to do now, since changes to the circuit have made it less stop-start.

«It was a different layout,» Verstappen said. «I feel like now you get towed around a lot more. So it’s not as easy to do that.

«I felt like it was a lot easier to back it up then because the tyres would get hot. It’s very different times. I hope it’s not straightforward the race, but hopefully that’s not because of me.»

He added: «I want to win tomorrow, but I also know that that’s not enough, even if I win. So I just hope on some Abu Dhabi magic that happens behind me. So let’s see what we get. I just hope it’s going to be an interesting and fun race.»

That comment about «Abu Dhabi magic» is clearly a reference to 2010, when Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso came into the race with a lead over Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Vettel, in a situation pretty similar to this year.

Alonso looked certain to win the title – until Ferrari messed up their strategy, he got stuck in the midfield after an early pit stop, and spent an agonising two-thirds of the race watching his dreams turn to dust as Vettel took the race win and title.

It’s only a week since McLaren made their own strategy mis-step in Qatar, losing the win to Verstappen as a result.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was Alonso’s race engineer in 2010, so knows plenty about what for him was an Abu Dhabi agony that still hurts today.

In his talks with the team this week, Stella has emphasised how strong their season has been, how far the team have come in such a short space of time, that «bumps on the road are inevitable», that their culture is «let’s learn from what we could have done better and get stronger».

As Verstappen put it: «A lot can go well for you, can go against you, and we find out tomorrow.»

Norris was asked how he would balance risk and reward, and he gave another short answer: «We will decide when we have to.»

There is also the possibility of contact at the first corner – Piastri and Verstappen collided there last year, when the Red Bull driver tried an over-ambitious move from fourth on the grid.

Norris, in his position, has the luxury of being able to be conservative here.

Which might explain why Piastri, when asked whether he was going to get his popcorn out ready for some action at Turn One, said: «Turn One I’m not sure,» he said, «but I’ll have some handy.»

He was also asked what he had learned in his career about title showdowns.

«Funny things can happen,» he said. «That’s what I’ve learnt.»

Stella said: «In terms of the options that Max has available to try and place cards, honestly, I’m not too worried.

«I think we will see some interesting racing, but I’m sure all this will happen within the boundaries of sportsmanship and fairness.»

For all three, and their teams, the tension will mount in the hours between qualifying and race.

Even Verstappen, who has looked relaxation personified so far this weekend, admitted to some nerves before qualifying, but said that he fed off them, and they had help him perform.

Commentating with BBC Sport this weekend is Damon Hill, who has experience of two title showdowns, one he lost in 1994 and one he won in 1996.

«The way through this is to just focus on what you do for a living, you do the same job you’ve always done,» Hill said.

«You speak to the engineers and try to make the car go faster and one of the things that is a solace is to get back to the job you do.

«Once you have things rattling around your head, you can’t concentrate. It’s very important to have calmness.

«You know when you lie down in bed at night, there’s that gap when you lie down before you go to sleep? You try sleeping when you can be world champion or not.

«You need sleep. You need energy and to not burn the energy and it’s about managing that side of things.

«It’s intense. It’s what you’ve always wanted.

«Lando remarked earlier this weekend how it had been 16 years trying to get to this point and the title would mean everything.

«He has a weight on his shoulders and he does know that there’s a threshold and on Sunday he’ll know whether he has crossed that threshold and joined that exclusive club of ours of British world champions.»