Nico Rosberg is on a winning form on Saturday afternoon with yet another pole position. This was his sixth consecutive P1, beating his team-mate Lewis Hamilton to record the team’s fifteen front row lockout this season.
The Mercedes driver initially trailed the champion in both Q1 and Q2 at the Yas Marina circuit, but Rosberg found the speed when it mattered to top the timesheet by 0.377 seconds.
Sergio Perez showed Force India’s rapid Friday form was no fluke by qualifying fourth fastest, just 0.133 seconds slower than Kimi Raikkonen, who was the only Ferrari driver to make the top ten after team-mate Sebastian Vettel made a shocking exit in Q1.
Perez was provisionally third quickest after the first runs in Q3, but he couldn’t go quicker on his second attempt as Raikkonen improved.
Daniel Ricciardo topped a close fight to be fifth quickest, ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg, and Felipe Massa.
Ricciardo’s Red Bull team-mate Daniil Kvyat was nearly two tenths off in ninth, but well ahead Carlos Sainz Jr, who only made a single run in Q3 and was nearly eight tenths of a second adrift of the Russian’s time.
Sainz bumped his Toro Rosso team-mate Max Verstappen out of the top ten with his final effort in Q2, while McLaren’s Jenson Button missed the cut by less than two tenths of a second as he set P12, complaining of a lack of grip.
Lotus suffered a tricky qualifying session, with Pastor Maldonado only P13 after looking strong in practice, while team-mate Romain Grosjean was unable to set a time in Q2 after suffering technical problems with his E23.
The pair sandwiched the Sauber of Felipe Nasr, who failed to improve on his Q1 laptime and ended up P14.
Four-time world champion Vettel was the biggest casualty of the first segment of qualifying, backing off early on his final flying lap thinking he’d done enough already but ending up a lowly P16 as rivals improved.
It was another disappointing session for the double world champion Fernando Alonso, who looked to be on a decent lap until his McLaren-Honda suffered a left-rear puncture that forced him to back off.
He ended up P17, ahead of Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber, which appeared to suffer a technical problem in the closing stages that prevented him in making Q2.
Will Stevens out-qualified returning team-mate Roberto Merhi by a massive 1.137 seconds as the Manor Marussias again brought up the tailend of the timesheet.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m40.237s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m40.614s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m41.051s
4 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m41.184s
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m41.444s
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m41.656s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m41.686s
8 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m41.759s
9 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1m41.933s
10 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Renault 1m42.708s
11 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1m42.521s
12 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m42.668s
13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1m42.807s
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m43.614s
15 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes No time
16 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m42.941s
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m43.187s
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m43.838s
19 Will Stevens Marussia-Ferrari 1m46.297s
20 Roberto Merhi Marussia-Ferrari 1m47.434s
World champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted he has been struggling with his Mercedes F1 car lately. For the sixth time, team-mate Nico Rosberg has outqualified him to pole position. Autosport.com has the full story.
Lewis Hamilton says he has struggled with his Mercedes W06 Formula 1 car in recent races more than he did earlier in the season.
The current world champion suffered his sixth consecutive defeat in qualifying to team-mate Nico Rosberg in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, with his best lap coming in nearly four tenths down on the German.
Asked after qualifying if he was having problems with the car, Hamilton said: “Generally it gets better in the race, but for a while I’m just struggling on the edge of the car.
“It was a lot more comfortable in the beginning of the year for me.
“Coming into this weekend I’ve tried to make some changes.
“I’m disappointed with myself a little bit with one of the things I’ve taken off the car, but at the end of the day I couldn’t do anything [to beat Rosberg].
“I don’t know really, I’ve generally struggled all weekend, but Nico did such a good job today, in particular in Q3.
“It doesn’t really matter what the [qualifying] number is, what matters are the wins and the championship.
“There are areas to improve the car on my side, and I’m sure we’ll get there.”
Rosberg played down the significance of his run of six straight poles heading into F1’s off-season.
When asked if he wanted to continue the streak into 2016, he said: “With all due respect that’s not a target.
“It’s great to end the season on a high and I’ll be motivated to start next year the way this season has finished, but it’s not as simple as that.
“I’ll push and be strong next year. It’s not a revival, it’s just progress.”
Sebastian Vettel’s final qualifying session of the Formula One season ended sooner than expected after Ferrari got their calculations wrong on Saturday.
“We thought we were quick enough, we thought the time was enough, but it turned out not so good,” the German told reporters after failing to make it through the first phase and qualifying 16th.
The failure was a rare one in what has been a strong first season at Maranello for the four times world champion, who won his first world title in Abu Dhabi in 2010, since leaving Red Bull.
Vettel has won three races, the only non-Mercedes driver to stand on top of the podium this year, and will finish third overall.
The German is also the only driver outside the dominant champions this season to take a pole position, doing so in Singapore but a repeat was not to be on a circuit that has been good to him in the past.
“I should have done a quicker lap and we could have made it but in that moment we thought it was enough but it wasn’t – obviously quite costly,” said Vettel, a three times winner in Abu Dhabi.
“But we know what happened and we have to start the race from further back. That is the challenge now.”
“We try every weekend to do our best and this weekend we did not get it right. It is a small mistake with a big consequence. There are a lot of cars ahead of us that should not be ahead of us, but it is up to us to turn it around.”
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified third on Saturday, was a winner in Abu Dhabi with Lotus in 2012. Vettel started in the pit lane in that race and still finished third.
Source: Reuters
McLaren’s Jenson Button commented that the MP3-40 feels better that it has been all season come the Abu Dhabi event. Autosport.com has the details.
Jenson Button believes McLaren’s MP4-30 feels better than it has all year at the season-ending Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Button missed out on a Q3 slot by less than two tenths of a second in qualifying, while team-mate Fernando Alonso’s session was curtailed in Q1 after he suffered a puncture.
Both drivers were very pleased with the latest improvements made by McLaren on the chassis side, even if the Honda engine’s deployment issues mean they are still giving away nearly 30km/h on the Yas Marina circuit’s long straights.
“The car feels the best it has all year – that is always promising at the end of the season,” said Button.
“We tried a few new things this weekend that have worked, so I’m very happy with that.
“Going into qualifying we thought we’d be 14th and 15th, so it’s better than expected.
“This is not a strong circuit for us, so to be 12th here is good.
“It means that we’ve improved, so it’s nice going into the winter with a positive feeling.”
Both drivers warned not to expect too much from McLaren in the race, as they will not be able to battle with cars that are so much faster on the straights.
And Button believes his ninth place in Q1 raised expectations in the McLaren garage beyond what was possible.
“As soon as you go P9 in Q1 their eyes light up and they’re smiling, so you’re disappointed to be P12,” he added.
“We were 0.18s off, but I didn’t leave anything on the table. We definitely maximised what we had.
“Other people got their laps together in Q2 and put us in our place, which is 12th.
“It’s good to be disappointed with 12th, we shouldn’t be happy with 12th.
“I’m not positive on scoring points. It’s going to be tough for us.
“I’d like to say we are charging forward but it’s going to be very difficult.
“I’m sure Fernando will be the next car behind me after a couple of laps.”