Max Verstappen caused a major upset to put his Red Bull on pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Verstappen struck at the death to edge out Valtteri Bottas by just 0.025 seconds to claim the first non-Mercedes pole of the year in dry conditions.

Lewis Hamilton, who missed last weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain with coronavirus, had to settle for third in a closely-fought session under the lights of the Yas Marina circuit.

The seven-time world champion finished 0.086 sec behind Verstappen.

For his final Grand Prix with Renault, Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo has his work cut out to achieve an excellent farewell result after qualifying only 12th.

Dutchman Verstappen’s terrific effort sets up a potentially thrilling final Grand Prix of the year as Formula One brings the curtain down on a breathless coronavirus-disturbed season of 17 races inside just 24 weeks.

Hamilton wrapped up his record-equalling title in Turkey last month, but after missing the first race of his 14-season career with COVID-19, the Mercedes driver will be keen to capture his 12th win of 2020 on Sunday.

However, he may struggle after Verstappen delivered an imperious lap that summed up his entire impressive campaign.

Hamilton applauded his rival, saying: “It has definitely been a difficult weekend in terms of getting back into the rhythm. But I gave it my all and congratulations to Max, it’s a great way for him to seal a year of good performances.

“Hopefully, we can give him a good run tomorrow. Of course, it is always nice to start first, but you cannot always do that, and that makes tomorrow exciting.

Verstappen said: “I am very, very pleased with the lap. We will wait and see how tomorrow goes and we will try to do our best.”

Lando Norris finished an impressive fourth for McLaren, one spot ahead of Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon.

Following his heroics last weekend at the Sakhir Grand Prix as a Mercedes stand-in for Hamilton, George Russell, back with Williams, qualified only 18th.

Sergio Perez, who claimed the first win of his career last week, finished 15th but will be thrown to the back of the field for an engine penalty.

Perez will be replaced by Sebastian Vettel at the rebranded Aston Martin team in 2021.

In the final appearance of his six-season Ferrari career, the quadruple world champion finished 13th, seven-tenths slower than Leclerc, who lines up in ninth.