Abu Dhabi Grand Prix LIVE: Updates as Verstappen looks to beat Hamilton and Bottas

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix LIVE

-Lights out at 1.10pm

-Race updates to appear here

Starting grid

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
5. Alex Albon (Red Bull)
6. Carlos Sainz (McLaren)
7. Daniil Kvyat (Alpha Tauri)
8. Lance Stroll (Racing Point)
9. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
10. Esteban Ocon (Renault)
11. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault)
12. Charles Leclerc* (Ferrari) – Three-place grid penalty
13. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
14. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
15. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)
16. George Russell (Williams)
17. Pietro Fittipaldi (Haas)
18. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
19. Sergio Perez* (Racing Point) – Engine penalty
20. Kevin Magnussen* (Haas) – Engine penalty

Race preview

Max Verstappen took the first non-Mercedes pole position of the season ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and is determined to take victory for the first time in 2020.

“I said before I went to qualifying that it would be the final send of the season and we did that,” he said. “Very happy with that.

“It was a tricky qualifying at the beginning to get your laps in but luckily everything came together in that final lap.

“The whole year when you are behind getting closer it gets a bit frustrating sometimes. But very pleased with today.”

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has said it has taken a while for him to get back into the swing of things in his Mercedes.

Hamilton said: “Honestly, really grateful be back here with the team and try to close out the strong season we’ve had.

“It has been a difficult weekend getting back into a rhythm. It was just a couple of weeks off but it felt like I’d lost momentum.

“I struggled with the balance all weekend, but congratulations to Max – a great way to seal the season. But we’re going to give them a good run tomorrow.