Rory Mitchell

But I feel the timing and nature of Sarah's comments are asking for accountability. Esp since he's spoken to media the fourth time in his career like this and to Dutch media specifically. It shouldn't get to the point where his relationship has broken down with the manager, he's a legend. 2/2

This is the thing. Liverpool has incredible talent playing for them but it's being under utilised. It's not just Slot, but it's the set piece coach resting on their laurels. People should be allowed a bad run of form (you can't win every game). 1/2

Big changes in the team with a lot of money spent, and it's required a bit more from Salah on the pitch. His strengths are not being utilised by Slot, but you also need to be adaptable. The cost of it all leads me to think Liverpool have fallen victim to Ducati Syndrome this season.

Verstappen on how he's approaching the start: "All out. I have nothing to lose. I'm going to try to win the race. I'm going to defend. If I need to attack, I'll attack. Because what can happen? You have a second, or third, or you win? That would be fantastic." #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Verstappen has the most poles among the title contenders, with an eighth today. Piastri, Norris and Verstappen are all level on seven wins apiece.

When you consider Verstappen has scored 209 points since the summer break (McLaren combined 241 points), this has been some comeback. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP v

Qualifying head-to-heads at the end of 2025 #F1 season:

Norris/Piastri: 13 - 11
Leclerc/Hamilton: 19 - 5
Verstappen/Tsunoda: 22 - 0
Russell/Antonelli: 21 - 3
Alonso/Stroll: 24 - 0
Gasly/Colapinto: 13 - 5
Bearman/Ocon: 14 - 10
Hadjar/Lawson: 16 - 6
Sainz/Albon: 14 - 9
Hulkenberg/Bortoleto: 11 - 12

If it finishes like this tomorrow, Norris would be the champion by five points. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Verstappen takes pole for the #AbuDhabiGP!

Norris improves to P2 ahead of Piastri and will start alongside his title rival on the front row. #F1

McLaren sends their drivers out on used soft tyres, and Verstappen is on provisional pole by 0.3s. Piastri leads Norris by 0.129s. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Not including Brazil, as Bortoleto didn't take part after the Sprint crash.

Bearman has had a shocker. Quicker than Ocon all weekend, but drops out in Q2 by 0.007s in P11. Antonelli also drops out and will start in P14. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

It's all very cat and mouse in the title scrap. Verstappen gets a great tow from Alonso on his second soft tyre lap in Q2 and is ahead of Norris by 0.052s. He's found some time since Q1 and is now ahead of Piastri by 0.2s. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Bortoleto out-qualifies Hulkenberg, who drops out in Q1, which means the Brazilian is 12 - 11 in their head-to-head this year. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Hamilton is knocked out of Q1 for the third race in a row. It appears he's given up on the SF-25. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Red Bull has been fined €10,000 for Tsunoda's near miss with Norris during FP3. Stewards also gave Tsunoda a formal warning. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Russell is quickest in the final practice session of 2025, but Norris leads the title contenders. His lap on the soft was 0.120s faster than Verstappen, while Piastri is 0.2s off Norris' lap heading into qualifying. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

A collision in the pit lane between Antonelli and Tsunoda. Front wing damage for the Mercedes. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Hamilton: "Something buckled at the front and snapped the rear."
Engineer: "Understood. Are you ok?"
Hamilton: "Yeah." #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Red flag. Hamilton has crashed at Turn 9. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

A near miss between Norris and Tsunoda at T12, with the McLaren driver getting close to a collision after the Red Bull was dawdling unsighted on the racing line.

Norris team radio: "There are actually blind people in this sport. It's incredible." #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Expensive weekend for Aston Martin. Each of their drivers has been fined €25,000 (of which €15,000 is suspended) for failure to engage in media activity on Friday. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

This is a good point after Norris was booed in Mexico for what happened at Monza. It feels like McLaren has entered damned if you do, damned if you don't territory.

Norris, Verstappen, and Piastri are quite even on the medium tyre long runs in the low 1:29s. I'd say Norris is slightly quicker per lap, with Piastri in the mid- and high-1:29s.

Leclerc is also quicker than Russell, but Ferrari's one-lap pace is nowhere. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Piastri locks up on his second run on the soft tyre at T6. Seems he's not really refined the balance of his car yet. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

First runs on the soft tyre in FP2, and Norris leads the way on a 1:23.083s. Verstappen is 0.363s off, and Piastri a further 0.680s adrift. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

Brown: "Last year, once it became clear Lando had the best chance to catch Max and Oscar was almost statistically out of it in Baku, we asked Oscar to support Lando. It ended up being Lando supporting Oscar in that particular race, and Oscar won. So we're going to use common sense." #f1 #AbuDhabiGP

Zak Brown asked if his stance on using team orders on Sunday is a U-turn on what McLaren has done all season: "I don't think it's a U-turn. We're going to start the weekend like we have the other 23, which is going in, giving both drivers equal opportunity." (cont) #F1 #AbuDhabiGP

McLaren fought with Alpine for Piastri's services. He won F3 and F2 back-to-back, and has Mark Webber managing him. A recent court case suggests that it was Andreas Seidl who signed Piastri when Zak Brown wanted Alex Palou, but McLaren knew what they were getting.

The good thing is, FP1 at Abu Dhabi is pretty much redundant because it's staged in the day. Every other session is at night/twilight, when the track and air temperature are a lot cooler.

Rookie times in #AbuDhabiGP FP1:

1. (P11) Hirakawa - 1:24.934
2. (P13) Aron - 1:25.204
3. (P14) O'Ward - 1:25.246
4. (P15) Lindblad - 1:25.256
5. (P16) A. Leclerc - 1:25.360
6. (P17) Iwasa - 1:25.475
7. (P18) Browning - 1:25.490
8. (P19) Crawford - 1:25.889
9. (P20) Shields - 1:26.432 #F1