2025 F1 Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying LIVE: Who will be on pole for the 2025 F1 title showdown?

With 8mins to go, the bottom five are: Ocon, Albon, Leclerc, Gasly and Colapinto

The first wave of laps are chiming in with just under 10mins to go

Russell quickest from Bearman, followed by Piastri - the trio split by just 0.008s

Verstappen Alonso and Norris complete the top six

Hamilton gets a time on the board as he completes his first lap since spinning into the barriers in FP3

Alpine have the honour of getting out on track first - the final qualifying session for the Renault engine before it is mothballed in favour of Mercedes units in 2026

T-minus 5mins to Qualifying

Away from the title fight, there will be an unwelcome spotlight trained on Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton coming into this session.

The Briton is enduring a torrid end to what has been a lacklustre first campaign in Ferrari red. Q1 exits in Vegas and Qatar (twice) have contributed to him scoring just ten points in the last four GPs and two Sprints.

And he comes into qualifying in Abu Dhabi having dropped the Ferrari at Turn 9 and struck the barrier.

This is his final chance to get a GP podium on the board before the season is out, while he also has to defend a slim two point advantage over young rookie Kimi Antonelli in the overall standings 

Going back to the title battle, the subject of team orders has been a keen topic of conversation.

Norris deftly ruled out the possibility of being the one to ask for help from Piastri if he needs it, but McLaren has piped up to say it would call on the Aussie to do his bit if it transpires that sacrificing position would help his team-mate get the better of Verstappen.

The most likely scenario of this is Verstappen leading with Piastri second or third and Norris fourth, which would require Piastri to drop position to lift Norris to third.

It remains to be seen if Piastri - who could still win the title - would comply, but the general feeling throughout the year has been for McLaren to beat Verstappen by any means possible

We spoke about the many team changes abound in 2026 as names exit and others arrive, but on the driver front there will be just one newcomer in Arvid Lindblad, who was officially confirmed with Racing Bulls for next season.

Fittingly, the Briton has just won the F2 Sprint race in Abu Dhabi having also taken part in an F1 rookie practice session on Friday. It's proving to be quite a week for the youngster

Qualifying for the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP gets underway in just under an hour's time

It was fairly plain sailing for the trio of title hopefuls in FP3 this morning, though they weren't top of the timesheets with Mercedes' Russell just pipping Norris

Of the big three though, Norris has the quickest title contender in all three FP sessions.

Remember, third place will be enough for Norris to win the title , regardless of who wins the race - but he will remain firmly focused on that top spot in qualifying either way