FACTS AND STATS: Norris secures the most pole positions for a McLaren driver this century in Abu Dhabi

Lando Norris secured a magnificent pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix amid tough competition from his team mate Oscar Piastri, leaving McLaren well and truly on their way to sealing their first constructors' title since 1998. Here are the best facts and stats from an exhiliarating qualifying at the Yas Marina Circuit...

• Norris secured his eighth pole position of the season, which is the highest of any McLaren driver in the 21st century – he has surpassed Lewis Hamilton's seven poles in 2008 and 2012.

• He has tied Max Verstappen's eight pole positions in 2024.

READ MORE: McLaren drivers aiming to beat Ferrari to constructors’ glory ‘in style’ as Norris leads front row lock-out at Yas Marina

• With Piastri qualifying in P2, McLaren have achieved their third front row lock-out of the year.

• The Woking outfit have ended the 11-year streak of Mercedes and Red Bull pole positions at this track.

• The pole-sitter has gone on to win in the last 11 races in Abu Dhabi, which is the longest current streak at any F1 circuit and only one short of the all-time record set in Barcelona between 2001 and 2010.

• Piastri has started on the front row five times this season without a pole position.

• The Aussie has also been outqualified by Norris on 20 occasions.

• Carlos Sainz's P3 result in qualifying will be his best start at Yas Marina.

• While Nico Hulkenberg was demoted to P7 with a grid penalty, his original lap time was only 0.082s away from the front row.

• The German driver has reached Q3 in all of his last seven appearances at this track.

READ MORE: Hulkenberg hit with three-place grid penalty for Abu Dhabi GP

• Verstappen had his worst qualifying in Abu Dhabi since 2018.

• In his career, he has won from 10 different starting positions, but never from fifth.

• George Russell has ended his three-race streak of starting on the front row.

• Fernando Alonso will end the season with back-to-back P8 starts.

• Valtteri Bottas secured Kick Sauber's best qualifying result of 2024 and will start the race in ninth.

• Sergio Perez has been outqualified by Verstappen on 23 out of 24 occasions this year.

READ MORE: Verstappen explains what caused ‘big moment’ in Abu Dhabi qualifying

• At RB, Yuki Tsunoda outqualified Liam Lawson by just 0.053s in P11, maintaining his record of beating the Kiwi 6-0 in qualifying.

• The Japanese driver has never qualified lower than 11th in Abu Dhabi.

• P12 will be Lawson's highest start since the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

• Stroll will start from 13th position for the third time in the last four Abu Dhabi GPs.

• Kevin Magnussen will be promoted to P14 after Charles Leclerc's 10-place grid penalty – his highest start at this track since 2019.

• Until this weekend, Leclerc has never started lower than P12 at Yas Marina.

READ MORE: ‘A difficult one to take’ – Leclerc reacts to early qualifying exit as he insists ‘everything is possible’ in Abu Dhabi GP

• Alex Albon has suffered three consecutive Q1 eliminations for the first time since the first half of the 2022 season.

• Zhou Guanyu had outqualified Bottas in the last two races, but qualified in 17th in Abu Dhabi.

• Lewis Hamilton will end his time at Mercedes with three Q1 eliminations in the last six races – in the 170 race weekends prior, he was knocked out in Q1 on just three occasions.

• Williams driver Franco Colapinto rounds off the season with five Q1 eliminations in the last six races.

• With Esteban Ocon setting the slowest time in Q1 in Qatar, and newcomer Jack Doohan similarly qualifying last in Abu Dhabi, Alpine have had the slowest car in consecutive race weekends with two different drivers.

• 0.803s covered the entire field in Q1, which is just short of the all-time record of 0.798s set in Austria this year.