(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

Red Bull's Max Verstappen kept his hopes alive of winning five consecutive F1 world championship titles by grabbing the pole position at the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday.

Verstappen was 0.201 seconds faster than Championship leader Lando Norris of McLaren under the Yas Marina floodlights.

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Australian driver Oscar Piastri, Norris' teammate and the third contender for the title, was third in Saturday's qualifying.

British driver Norris, who has a 12-point lead over second-placed Verstappen, will win his maiden world championship title with a podium finish, regardless of other results.

But Verstappen can lift the coveted trophy only if he finishes first on Sunday and Norris misses out on a podium place.

The Dutchman, though, was pleased with how he drove on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, where he won the first of his four back-to-back titles in 2021 by famously beating Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of a dramatic race.

It was a disappointing evening for Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, who was knocked out in Q1.

While Hamilton's Ferrari camp looked dejected, the Red Bull team was euphoric after the qualifying session, having celebrated Verstappen's brilliant performance on Saturday.

"Max Verstappen just piled on the pressure on everyone, he just kept on getting better," said Damon Hill, former British F1 world champion, on the BBC.

"He's just a machine, Red Bull are just so strong, and they have done everything they need to do."

It's the 48th pole position for the 28-year-old Dutch driver.

"I'm just incredibly happy to be in first," he said.

"That's the only thing we can do, we can control, to maximise what we have and what we can with the car and we definitely did that in qualifying."

But Verstappen admitted that he needs a bit of luck on Sunday to equal Michael Schumacher's record of five consecutive world titles.

"Well, we find out tomorrow, don't we? Let's see what we can do. I will try and win the race, but also in the back of my mind, we want to try and score a lot of points and try and win the championship," he said.

"We need a little bit of luck from what is happening behind us.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was happy to see both Norris and Piastri keep their chances alive.

"Having Oscar [Piastri] and Lando (Norris) so close, well, that's the story of the season. This qualifying is symbolic of what has been a very, very close performance between Oscar and Lando," Stella told Sky Sports.

"It's fair and good that they are both here fighting for the championship. "In terms of qualifying itself, Max (Verstappen) and Red Bull are one or two-tenths more than us today, so fair enough that they are in pole position.

"I'm happy with the performance, and I think Oscar and Lando managed to extract what was available in the car today."

Norris admitted that Verstappen was the better driver on Saturday.

"Max (Verstappen) did a good job, so congrats to him," he said.

"We did everything we could. I think my lap was pretty good; I was pretty happy. Of course, disappointed not to be on pole for the final weekend, but we just weren't fast enough today. We'll have to try and do it tomorrow."

But Norris remains confident of becoming the 11th British driver to win the F1 world title on Sunday.

"I still want to try and win tomorrow, so that's going to be the goal," he said.

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