Plus find out how all the season's qualifying head-to-heads finished up
Saturday 30 November 2019 18:02, UK
Lando Norris claimed victory in the one unsettled team-mate qualifying head-to-head for 2019 with a midfield-leading performance in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Norris and team-mate Carlos Sainz were tied at 10 Saturday 'wins' apiece at McLaren heading into the final qualifying session of the year and took that final duel all the way to the final laps of Q3.
The Spaniard had proved comfortably quicker in the opening stages, but lost out in the final phase with Norris taking seventh - which becomes sixth on the grid courtesy of Valtteri Bottas' penalty - ahead of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo and Sainz.
"I'm very happy, it was a tough one as you can tell," Norris, sitting next to Ricciardo, told Sky F1 after the two McLarens and Renault were split by just 0.023s.
"If I made a three hundredths' mistake I was two places down and I beat this guy [Ricciardo] which is even better.
"It was nice and it was a good lap, I didn't make any big mistakes. It's just decent, it wasn't one of the best of my life, but controlling the tyres and making sure you don't have any wheelspins or oversteer."
Sainz was left frustrated to be beaten by both drivers given he had held a comfortable 0.4s advantage over them in Q2, when he had finished sixth quickest.
"Honestly disappointed because I was flying in Q1 and Q2," reflected the Spaniard. "I had a bit of a buffer on the midfield, a bit like in the last few races, and I was like 'yeah, let's do it in Q3'.
"But I don't know how we managed to get ourselves in trouble in Q3 with those out laps. The Mercedes' fighting Verstappen, overtaking me, and I couldn't put temperature on the front tyres. At the exit of Turn One I was already one tenth down on my Q2 lap.
"Disappointed but we need to keep learning on these little details."
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton 14-7 Valtteri Bottas
Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel 9-12 Charles Leclerc
Red Bull: Max Verstappen 8-1 Alex Albon / Verstappen 11-1 Pierre Gasly
McLaren: Carlos Sainz 10-11 Lando Norris
Renault: Daniel Ricciardo 13-7 Nico Hulkenberg*
Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat 2-7 Pierre Gasly / Kvyat 7-5 Albon
Racing Point: Sergio Perez 17-3 Lance Stroll
Alfa Romeo: Kimi Raikkonen 12-9 Antonio Giovinazzi
Haas: Kevin Magnussen 13-8 Romain Grosjean
Williams: George Russell 21-0 Robert Kubica
* Ricciardo qualified ahead in Singapore but his car was later disqualified, so no score is awarded
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