Vettel on pole in UAE

Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for Sunday's Abu Dhabi GP, taking the coveted grid slot in an intense qualifying session.

Hamilton to start from front row of the grid

Sebastian Vettel put himself in pole position to win Sunday's Abu Dhabi GP, taking the coveted grid slot in an intense qualifying session. The Red Bull racer, one of four drivers in with a chance of lifting the world championship on Sunday afternoon, crossed the line with a time of 1:39.394. And although Lewis Hamilton came close to pipping Vettel, he ultimately fell 0.031s short. Fernando Alonso will line up in third place, 0.398s off the pace, and has the advantage of having Jenson Button as a buffer between himself and his main rival for the title, Mark Webber. A scruffy qualifying in which Red Bull left it rather late saw Webber finish down in fifth place. Meanwhile, Robert Kubica lost his record of being the only non-Red Bull driver to make it through to the final qualifying segment in all this season's races. He dropped out in Q2, putting his car into 11th place. It was Vettel's 10th pole this season, becoming only the seventh driver in the 60 years of F1 to claim double figures in a season - Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen, Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher the others. It was also Red Bull's 15th pole of the year, equalling the F1 record set by Williams in 1992 and 1993 and McLaren in 1988 and 1989. The top 10 is completed by Felipe Massa in his Ferrari, Williams' Rubens Barrichello, the Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, and finally Renault's Robert Kubica. During the 15-minute Q2 Hamilton's mindset appeared to be awry as he initially outbraked himself into turn 11, running wide, forcing him to abort that particular hot lap. Then on a subsequent out lap the 25-year-old failed to see Massa on a quick lap of his own as he cut across the Brazilian's line on the approach to turn five.

Evasive action

Within a split second Hamilton realised Massa's position and took evasive action by cutting across the corner, sending flying a thin plastic bollard that was also housing a television camera. Hamilton was fortunate Massa also made it into Q3 as the stewards opted not to take any action, otherwise it might have easily led to a five-place grid penalty. The session resulted in Petrov beating Renault team-mate Robert Kubica for only the second time this season, with the Pole 11th ahead of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi. The Force India duo of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi will start 13th and 16th, sandwiching Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Nico Hulkenberg in his Williams. It was a case of back down to earth with a bump for Hulkenberg who last Saturday in Brazil gave Williams their first pole position for five and a half years. Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari lines up in 17th ahead of team-mate Sebastien Buemi, the duo enjoying their own private duel at the end of Q1, with the former ousting the latter by 0.117secs. As has been the case virtually all season the three debut teams concluded their final qualifying campaign by occupying the last six places on the grid. Lotus Racing have the edge over rivals Virgin and Hispania as Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen will start 19th and 20th ahead of Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi. Hispania duo Bruno Senna and Christian Klien line up 23rd and 24th, the latter still over four seconds away from finding a place in Q2. Times
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m39.394
02. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m39.425
03. Alonso Ferrari 1m39.792
04. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m39.823
05. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m39.925
06. Massa Ferrari 1m40.202
07. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m40.203
08. Schumacher Mercedes 1m40.516
09. Rosberg Mercedes 1m40.589
10. Petrov Renault 1m40.901
11. Kubica Renault 1m40.780
12. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.783
13. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1m40.914
14. Heidfeld Sauber-Ferrari 1m41.113
15. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1m41.418
16. Liuzzi Force India-Ferrari 1m41.642
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m41.738
18. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m41.824
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1m43.516
20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1m43.712
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m44.095
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1m44.510
23. Senna Hispania-Cosworth 1m45.085
24. Klien Hispania-Cosworth 1m45.296