F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Rosberg beats Hamilton for pole

Mercedes AMG F1's Nico Rosberg took pole position for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which will decide which driver takes home the 2014 Formula 1 drivers crown and which one returns empty handed.

Having trailed F1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton in Q1 and Q2, Rosberg set the pace in final leg of qualifying, taking provisional pole after the first run. He improved further on another set of supersoft tyres to seal the first spot on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was faster than Rosberg in the first run until he went wide on the penultimate corner, before locking up on the entry to turn 21. His final lap wasn’t particularly tidy either - 1:40.866 - compared to Rosberg’s 1:40.480 - but still enough to take second on the grid.

The Williams pairing matched Mercedes in sectors one and two but tended to lose a heap of the time in the final sector. As a result, Valtteri Bottas took third with a time of 1:41.025 on board while Felipe Massa set a lap time that was just a tenth slower to secure an all Williams second row lockout.

The formation continued on to the third row with Daniel Ricciardo taking fifth and Sebastian Vettel qualifying in sixth place for Red Bull Racing. Interestingly, Ricciardo’s lap time of 1:41.267 was half a second quicker than Ferrari bound Vettel.

Daniil Kvyat - who graduates to Red Bull next season after just one year in the junior outfit - did a stellar job of not only progressing into Q3 but also beating the McLarens and the Ferraris. He starts the season closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from seventh position,

Jenson Button - possibly taking part in his last ever F1 qualifying session - was eighth quickest , comfortably ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen who failed to make it into the final part of qualifying. McLaren is yet to make a decision regarding their 2015 line up with either of their current drivers likely to be sacked to make way for Fernando Alonso who formally announced his departure from Ferrari this weekend.

Alonso in turn had a miserable qualifying outing at the Yas Marina Circuit. He was slowest of the 10 runners in Q3 and six tenths down on 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen who only used one set of tyres in the session.

The qualifying was again tweaked following the return of Caterham. Five drivers were eliminated in Q1 and Q2 respectively with the final Q3 showdown remaining unchanged.

The aforementioned Kevin Magnussen was the first driver not to make the cut in Q3 and was joined by Toro Rosso’s Jean Eric Vergne, the Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg and the Sauber driven by Adrian Sutil.

Force India seems to be slipping to the back of the pack, having made a wonderful start to the season. Race pace, however, remains their strength and the team would be looking to grab some points to end the season on a high.

The five drivers that were eliminated in Q1 included Romain Grosjean(Lotus), Esteban Gutierrez(Sauber), Pastor Maldonado(Lotus), Kamui Kobayashi(Caterham) and Will Stevens(Caterham). Stevens, in his first ever F1 qualifying session, was only five tenths down on team’s regular driver Kobayashi who has experience of 75 grands prix under his belt.

Nico Rosberg needs to win the race and hope that Lewis Hamilton finishes third or lower, if he’s to take his maiden F1 crown. Hamilton, however, can afford to consolidate his second place and repeat his 2008 feat. But as we’ve seen so many times in the past, championships can go either way with mechanical problems, strategy, and drivers not in contention for the title all affecting the outcome of the championship.

F1 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX - QUALIFYING RESULTS (TOP 10)

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:40.480

2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:40.866 +0.386

3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:41.025 +0.545

4 Felipe Massa Williams 1:41.119 +0.639

5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:41.267 +0.787

6 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:41.893 +1.413

7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:41.908 +1.428

8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:41.964 +1.484

9 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:42.236 +1.756

10 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:42.866 +2.386