Norris pips Piastri for pole in McLaren's Abu Dhabi 1-2

Oscar Piastri is poised to help McLaren power to the Formula One constructors' world championship for the first time since 1998 as the British team locked-out the front row in qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Australian Piastri was pipped to his first pole by English teammate Lando Norris on Saturday, but the McLaren one-two should guarantee they take the team crown in Sunday's season-finale on the Yas Marina circuit.

But the pair have promised to put team before their own personal ambitions with the lure of a first constructors' crown in more than a quarter-of-a-century being a crucial milestone for resurgent McLaren.

"We'll do whatever we can to make sure we win the championship, and that's by far the biggest goal tomorrow," declared Piastri.

"I'm sure we'd both love to win the race, but I'm sure everyone would love for us to win the championship even more. So we'll make sure that happens, and have some fun."

Norris clocked 1 minute 22.595 seconds on the 5.281km lap for his eighth pole of the season, with Piastri second-fastest 0.209 seconds behind.

While his compatriot was having a "perfect day" with McLaren, Australia's latest F1 driver Jack Doohan, son of the former world motorcycling champ Mick Doohan, was finding his qualifying debut a much more trying affair as the 21-year-old Alpine driver came last.

But the 21-year-old new boy will at least be able to start 17th and not 20th on the grid on Sunday, as others must serve grid penalties.

Ferrari's last flickering hopes of the team crown were practically extinguished with Charles Leclerc suffering a poor qualifying and also having to serve a 10-place grid penalty for a replacement battery which ensures he'll start as back-marker.

Carlos Sainz placed third for Ferrari in qualifying but it surely won't be enough to help the Italian giants pull back a 21-point deficit on McLaren.

Leclerc could only place 14th after failing to make the third and final round of qualifying because his best Q2 lap was nullified over a track limits violation.

McLaren's Norris declared bullishly: "We want to do it in style and we want to win - I want to win."

Piastri rallied well in the Q3 after having one earlier lap-time ruled out because he'd exceeded the track limits during the run.

"It was a bit of a tense moment," admitted the Melbourne driver. "I just kept my head down and knew I had to try and do a good final lap. That last lap was quicker, but not quite quick enough for pole."

McLaren's American chief executive Zak Brown admitted: "I won't sleep well tonight but I'm very excited for tomorrow."

Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg impressed with fourth place, ahead of Red Bull's world champion Max Verstappen who almost lost control of the car in the final turn.

Lewis Hamilton will start his final race for Mercedes before a 2025 move to Ferrari from 18th place after going out in Q1 because he hit a bollard on the track which got stuck under his car.

"You couldn't make it up, you really couldn't," sighed the seven-time world champion.

Doohan reckoned he was "not happy" with his result, as he failed to pilot his Alpine through Q1, clocking a best time of 1:24.105, the slowest of the day.

"But it was a learning session that we will debrief before the race tomorrow.

"I felt comfortable in the car on my first run and I think we could have extracted more from it on my second attempt. However, it's something we can learn from to improve in the future."