» Rosberg continues pole position streak in Abu Dhabi

Nico Rosberg has secured his sixth consecutive pole position ahead of the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The German posted a late lap to demote Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to second position by 0.377 seconds. Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen was a further half a second behind in third position.

Sergio Pérez confirmed the pace Force India had been displaying throughout the weekend by qualifying fourth, three-tenths of a second quicker than Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was knocked out in Q1 after he had a problem with his engine attempting his first flying lap on the super soft tyres. It didn’t help his cause that Ferrari had left it to the final minutes of the session to make the late switch from the soft compound to the super softs, which left Vettel very little room for error.

Joining Vettel in the dropout zone was McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who qualified in 17^th position. Alonso wasn’t able to challenge for a spot on Q2 as he received a puncture late in the session which saw him abort his lap.

Romain Grosjean struggled with the car in his final qualifying for the Lotus outfit, as a hydraulics problem forced him into the garage for half of the Q2 session. He re-joined the circuit towards the end of the session in an attempt to register a time and get into the final stage of qualifying, although it wasn’t meant to be as his E22 stopped on track just before Turn Eight due to a gearbox issue.

Carlos Sainz Jr. left it late to post his flying lap at the end of Q2, but it was good enough to promote him into the top ten at the expense of his team-mate Max Verstappen, whose wasn’t able to challenge Sainz’s best time.

Once Q3 started, Pérez was the first driver out on the track and set a lap time of 1:41.184, which was soon followed by Nico Hülkenberg in the other Force India, although he was a second off Perez’s pace.

Hamilton then demoted Pérez from provisional pole, but he was quickly beaten by Rosberg’s time of 1:40.237. The final round in Q3 saw Hamilton re-take provisional pole by a tenth of a second while Räikkönen could only manage third eight-tenths slower. Rosberg was then the last driver to cross the line, claiming pole position by a convincing three-tenths of a second, in an older and apparently less powered engine.

2015 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
Pos	Q3 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid	1:40.237		12
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid	1:40.614	+ 0.377	12
3.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T	1:41.051	+ 0.814	14
4.	Sergio Pérez	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B	1:41.184	+ 0.947	18
5.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11	1:41.444	+ 1.207	17
6.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37	1:41.656	+ 1.419	19
7.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B	1:41.686	+ 1.449	15
8.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37	1:41.759	+ 1.522	20
9.	Daniil Kvyat	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11	1:41.933	+ 1.696	22
10.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10	1:42.708	+ 2.471	17
Pos	Q2 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time	Gap*	Laps
11.	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10	1:42.521	+ 1.763	14
12.	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda MP4-30	1:42.668	+ 1.910	12
13.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid	1:42.807	+ 2.049	13
14.	Felipe Nasr	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34	1:43.614	+ 2.856	14
15.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid	no time		11
Pos	Q1 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time	Gap**	Laps
16.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T	1:42.941	+ 1.967	7
17.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda MP4-30	1:43.187	+ 2.213	5
18.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34	1:43.838	+ 2.864	7
19.	Will Stevens^	Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B	1:46.297	+ 5.323	7
20.	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B	1:47.434	+ 6.460	8