Hamilton was booed relentlessly by a Verstappen-heavy crowd during qualifying, but the seven-time world champion gave a blunt response to the icy reception.“If it was a cheer, if it was a boo, it makes no difference to how I go about my life. If anything, I use that as fuel.”
The pole-sitter has won in Abu Dhabi the last six years, including Verstappen's victory last season when he led all 55 laps around the yacht-filled marina.He refused to presume his pole-winning run guaranteed that Verstappen would dethrone Hamilton's run of four consecutive titles and become F1's first Dutch world champion.
“First of all, I never look at the stats because these things can change at the start or whatever, the first lap,” Verstappen said.Hamilton on Sunday will attempt to win a record eighth championship to break a tie withHamilton and Verstappen are tied in the standings — the first time since 1974 that contenders are even going into the deciding race.“We're good. Happy that I'm on front row. I can see him,” Hamilton said.
After Verstappen flat-spotted his medium tires in qualifying two, Red Bull changed to soft tyres and will start Sunday's race on rubber that won't be as durable as the mediums for Hamilton and Mercedes. Red Bull boss said during qualifying "the lockup wasn’t ideal; that kind of forced our hand", but neither he nor his driver were worried.“But I felt good on the soft so it's not really a difficult decision to make and then just say, ‘OK'."for McLaren was a surprise third in qualifying — beating out both Verstappen and Hamilton's teammates.
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