Mercedes’ command of Abu Dhabi during Formula 1’s V6 turbo-hybrid era and domination of 2020 qualifying was ended by Max Verstappen and Red Bull this weekend.
Verstappen’s first pole of the year marks the first time Mercedes has been defeated in dry conditions this season, as its only prior qualifying loss was in the bizarre circumstances of last month’s Turkish Grand Prix when Racing Point took pole with Lance Stroll.
“Finally to at least sit here once, after the dominance they had throughout the year, is very nice for us” :: Max Verstappen
Red Bull’s difficult RB16 has suffered from a loose rear particularly at low speed, a characteristic exaggerated by updates brought for the start of the postponed season in Austria but gradually improved as the year has progressed.
It made a major step at the Eifel Grand Prix in October with the introduction of some non-surface aerodynamic upgrades, and with the exception of Imola – with its unusual schedule – has been within 0.5% of Mercedes since then with an average deficit of 0.39% – almost a third of its average deficit up to the Nurburgring race.
“He’s come close so many times in Q3 this year only to be pipped by one or two Mercedes and usually it’s hundredths,” said Red Bull’s chief engineer Paul Monaghan.
“And this time the hundredths are in our favour rather than against us.
“It’s credit to everyone in the team. Everybody has not lost the faith. We haven’t stopped pushing, we haven’t stopped trying.”
Red Bull felt Mercedes looked unusually slow in final practice, likely due to engine modes, but was also confident in its own car after making set-up changes overnight after Friday, when it had looked relatively competitive despite Verstappen’s ultimate pace appearing a long way behind.
Monaghan would not go into detail but said the Yas Marina circuit’s layout with many similar-speed corners gave Red Bull “some quite specific problems that gave us a single target to identify”.
The refinements worked. Verstappen was a bit adrift in Q1 but close to the Mercedes on the mediums then split them on the first runs in Q3.
He confessed to feeling qualifying was not going Red Bull’s way initially but said “we managed to turn it around in Q3” when it counted, with what Monaghan called “an absolutely storming lap”, while Mercedes did not make the final step anticipated.
“It was good enough, luckily,” said Verstappen of his pole lap. “I crossed the line and I saw of course I was moving up but there were still a few cars behind me.
“But it feels nice. The whole year we were closing in a little bit, missed out a few times and then finally to at least sit here once, after the dominance they had throughout the year, I think it’s very nice for us, and the whole team as well.
“I would have thought we would have been a bit better than we were” :: Lewis Hamilton
“It’s been a very long season – in a short period of time, a lot of races.
“I think everyone wants the break but to have pole position is a good motivation for everyone in the team to try to finish it off tomorrow.”
The nature of Verstappen’s upset was reinforced by the fact this is the first time in Mercedes’ seven dominant seasons that the team has been beaten in qualifying at the Yas Marina circuit.
Red Bull has not even challenged Mercedes for pole in Abu Dhabi before this year.
Only twice in the last six seasons has Red Bull been Mercedes’ closest rival there, but a combination of the RB16’s ongoing development, Mercedes ceasing development work on the W11 months ago, and a potential soft tyre deficit allowed Verstappen to beat Valtteri Bottas to pole by 0.025s.
“I honestly think today was about how much you can extract off the soft tyre on a single lap,” said Bottas, suggesting Mercedes had a limitation that Red Bull did not.
“We’ve had a feeling that the medium has been too good compared to the soft tyre, which means that we’ve not perhaps got 100% out of the single lap with the soft tyre.
“That can make a huge difference on this type of track.
“So, I’m not sure, as a team, we made 100% out of it. And there’s plenty of things to learn.”
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton, racing after a recovery from COVID-19, echoed Bottas’s sentiment that qualifying had been difficult for Mercedes.
“I expected Max to be strong,” said Hamilton. “The Red Bull, I think, has looked very, very fast, particularly the last few races.
“So I expected them to be fast. Perhaps I would have thought we would have been a bit better than we were.
“It was a real struggle today, at least with my car.”
Bottas felt he struggled with the front end of his car towards the end of qualifying, which he hypothesised could be the result of track temperatures dropping as the evening wore on. That left him slightly confused.
“We should have been quite a bit quicker than the earlier sessions,” he said.
“I think Red Bull managed to optimise everything for the last part of qualifying, which matters.”
