Horner warns Hamilton that he 'will have his hands full' to beat Verstappen

Max Verstappen managed to grab pole position in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and it means that the Dutchman has a big advantage going into the last race of the season. Christian Horner could not suppress his happiness afterwards in conversation with Sky Sports.

The omens for the race weekend were not positive. Although Verstappen had a winning start from Abu Dhabi last season, the current circuit seemed more favourable to Lewis Hamilton. But, in qualifying the Briton could not match the time of Verstappen.

Verstappen set an impressive lap time of 1:22:109 around the Abu Dhabi track. Hamilton did everything he could to beat Verstappen, but was almost four tenths short of first place. Hamilton therefore faces the difficult task of overtaking Verstappen in the race.

Horner expects Hamilton to face a difficult Sunday. "He is going to have his hands full. I think its important that we convert it now," the Red Bull Racing team boss told the English medium in the interview. "We are starting on the clean side and on the better tyre and focus on our race and not on what they are doing."