Verstappen takes pole position for F1 title-deciding Abu Dhabi GP ahead of Norris and Piastri

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Max Verstappen took a brilliant pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Formula 1 title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on Saturday.

The thrilling three-way battle will be decided on Sunday at the Yas Marina Circuit. The McLaren driver Norris is 12 points ahead of Red Bull’s Verstappen and 16 ahead of McLaren teammate Piastri.

Verstappen is aiming for his fifth straight F1 title — Norris and Piastri are chasing their first. All three drivers have won seven races.

The Dutchman is ready to fight for another title battle on the final day — just like in 2021, when he beat seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton on the last lap to clinch his first championship.

“We find out tomorrow don’t we?” Verstappen said. “I will try and win the race.”

Pole position is crucial on the 58-lap circuit in Abu Dhabi, where overtaking is hard. Every driver has won from pole since 2015. The last driver not to win from pole was Nico Rosberg in 2014, when he was beaten by his then-Mercedes teammate Hamilton.

Verstappen had already set the fastest lap on his first go but went even quicker on his second attempt and clocked 1 minute, 22.207 seconds, making him .201 faster than Norris and .230 quicker than Piastri.

“That was insane,” Verstappen said over team radio after his eighth pole of the season and 48th overall. “Yes. Lovely.”

Verstappen kissed his girlfriend, Kelly Piquet, and shook hands with McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

Norris will win the title if he’s on the podium in Abu Dhabi. Even if Verstappen wins, the Dutchman needs Norris to be fourth or lower. If Piastri wins, he requires Norris to finish outside the top five.

Norris will start from the front row but was disappointed not to be on pole.

“We just weren't fast enough today. We'll have to try and do it tomorrow,” he said. “I still want to try and win tomorrow, so that's going to be the goal.”

Piastri was content with his performance.

“Nicely done,” he said. “Wasn’t much left."

Hamilton was eliminated from Q1, the first section of qualifying, for the third straight race. He also crashed in third practice due to a driver error earlier Saturday, and has not qualified inside the top 10 for four consecutive races.

“I’m so sorry,” Hamilton said over team radio. “There are no words to express how I feel.”

Asked about 2026, a dejected-sounding Hamilton said “I’m not looking that far ahead."

Mercedes driver George Russell qualified fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who fared much better than his more illustrious teammate.

Russell led third practice ahead of Norris and Verstappen.

But Hamilton lost the rear of the Ferrari coming out of Turn 9 and spun full circle before sliding into the barriers, bringing out the red flag. He stepped out of the car and picked up some of the debris himself.

Hamilton owns F1 records for most wins (104) and pole positions (104) but called his own performance “ terrible ” this season.

The 40-year-old Briton won a sprint race in China in March, but nothing else this season. He has not even been on the podium in a main race this campaign.

Norris showed good pace to lead Friday’s first two practice sessions ahead of Verstappen.

Norris had the chance to wrap up the title at last week’s Qatar Grand Prix but a botched strategy call by McLaren handed Verstappen the win, boosting his chances of a fifth straight title to equal Michael Schumacher’s feat with Ferrari from 2000-04.

Verstappen’s victory in Qatar was his 70th overall. His title chances improved after Norris and Piastri were disqualified in Las Vegas.

After winning the Dutch GP on Aug. 31, Piastri led by Norris by 34 points and was 104 ahead of Verstappen, who had won just two races.

Piastri, who is looking to become the first Australian champion in 45 years, hasn’t won in eight races since his Zandvoort win.

When Norris won the Brazil GP sprint race in early November, he moved 39 ahead of Verstappen with four races to go.

Verstappen also qualified in 16th for the main race in Sao Paulo and said he could “ forget about ” winning the title at that point.

Now, it’s a different feeling.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

From the left, secon-placed McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain, first-placed Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and third-placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia stand on the podium after the qualifying for the he Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands celebrates after clocked the fastest time during the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

McLaren chief Zak Brown cangratulates Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands after the qualifying for the he Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, right, kisses his girlfriend Kelly Piquet after clocked the fastest time during the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands celebrates after clocked the fastest time during the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

In this photo taken with slow shutter speed, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the third practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia steers his car during the third practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britainin action during a practice for the he Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain walks back to his pits after he crashed into the track wall during the third practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

DETROIT (AP) — When Mayor Mike Duggan announced his plan to run for Michigan governor, he did so from a tower in the iconic but aging Renaissance Center overlooking Detroit.

It's not the same city that Duggan inherited in January 2014.

No longer defined by blocks of vacant houses, empty downtown storefronts, rampant crime and scores of broken streetlights, many believe Detroit is finally experiencing its renaissance.

“I wish he would stay,” 40-year-old plumber Thomas Millender said of Duggan, who will step down in January after serving three terms as mayor.

“Duggan did a good job from what the city was to how it has been revamped," Millender said from his father's porch in a neighborhood where many homes are dilapidated. Private renovation crews buzzed in and out of once-vacant houses, preparing them for sale.

“There is not any neighborhood in this city that hasn’t had blight reduced, that hasn’t had street lights on, that hasn’t had parks renovated,” Duggan told The Associated Press.

“We have it going in the right direction, but the next mayor’s gonna have to go build on what I do and the following mayor is gonna have to build on that mayor,” Duggan said. “It’s going to take decades to bring the city all the way back.”

Duggan, a former prosecutor and health center chief, ran for mayor in 2013, when Detroit was broke and saddled with billions of dollars in long-term debt.

It was tough to keep basic services running. City employees were forced to work fewer hours and take pay cuts. More than a third of Detroit residents lived in poverty.

“We’ve hit bottom,” then-Mayor Dave Bing said flatly.

Bing, a successful business owner and basketball Hall of Famer, was elected in 2009 after a scandal involving once-popular Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick roiled City Hall and forced Detroit's financial straits into the spotlight.

By early 2013, the state had taken over city finances and installed an emergency manager who filed for bankruptcy that summer. Because of the depths of the city's debt, there was no way “to get any relief on that without bankruptcy,” Bing said.

He didn't seek reelection and the city, looking for new leadership, found it in Duggan.

Detroit exited bankruptcy in December 2014, after wiping away $7 billion in long-term debt. For several years after, a state review team monitored the city's finances and made sure its bills were paid.

Detroit has since recorded more than a decade of consecutive balanced budgets.

Violent crime, including murders, is trending down.

There were more than 40,000 vacant houses and other empty buildings in Detroit when Duggan took office. Using mostly federal funds, his administration spearheaded the demolition of more than 24,000. Thousands of others that were teetering and unlivable have been saved.

“Some neighborhoods are in better shape than others,” said Wayne State University Urban Studies and Planning Professor Jeff Horner. “There are still blocks of terrible destitution and poverty.”

But the biggest hurdle overcome during Duggan's tenure is the city's massive population loss. Detroit’s population reached 1.8 million people in the 1950s. By 2010, it had plunged below 700,000.

“The city lost a million people since 1957,” Duggan said. “That is a lot of years of decline. It’s going to take decades of growth to get all the way back.”

A census estimate placed Detroit's population at 645,705 in 2024, showing an increase of about 12,000 people since 2021, according to the city.

“When he ran in 2012-13, he said, ‘Judge me by one thing and one thing only: whether Detroit can gain population,’” Horner said of Duggan. “He kept that promise.”

Jay Williams, 36, acknowledges there is less blight, but he would like to see alternatives to tearing down houses and leaving lots vacant.

“There is a lot of open space,” he said. “You can do new developments. A majority of the money is focused downtown.”

Detroit megachurch pastor the Rev. Solomon Kinloch argued during his unsuccessful mayoral campaign this year that every neighborhood should share in Detroit's revival.

“You can’t make all of the investments downtown,” Kinloch said. “It has to reach the whole town.”

City Council President Mary Sheffield, who was elected this month to succeed Duggan and will take office in January, says she will build on his success and ensure “Detroit’s progress reaches every block and every family.”

Any mayor's first responsibility is to attend to the “entirety of the civic fabric,” said Rip Rapson, chief executive of the private Kresge Foundation, which provides grants and invests in cities nationwide.

“It’s not like you can just fix roads or improve police response time or build 25 units of affordable housing,” Rapson said. “As mayor, you have to attend to the need for complete vitality of neighborhoods ... making sure neighborhoods have adequate housing, safe housing stock, small business cultures, educational opportunities that anchor a neighborhood.”

“People will have quarrels with bits and pieces, but he’s done all of those things,” Rapson said of Duggan. “He leaves quite a powerful and positive legacy.”

FILE - Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan comes outside after a news conference to announce a new Detroit home mortgage program in Detroit, Mich., Feb. 18, 2016. (David Guralnick/Detroit News via AP, File)

FILE - Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is applauded by City Council members before delivering his first State of the City address, Feb. 26, 2014, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FILE - Mayoral candidate Mike Duggan speaks at his election night celebration in Detroit, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

FILE - Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan speaks to city employees in Detroit, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)