Lewis Hamilton will start the final round of the 2018 Formula 1 world championship on pole position for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton looked in peerless form as he set a new track record of 1:34.794s under the floodlights at Yas Marina Circuit, with his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas completing a 1-2 lockout for the Silver Arrows.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel threw everything into his final run, but came up short and will join Kimi Raikkonen on an all-Ferrari second row. Red Bull team mates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will start side-by-side behind them.
2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:36.828s | 1:35.693s | 1:34.794s |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:36.789s | 1:36.392s | 1:34.956s |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:36.775s | 1:36.345s | 1:35.125s |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:37.010s | 1:36.735s | 1:35.365s |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:37.117s | 1:36.964s | 1:35.401s |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:37.195s | 1:36.144s | 1:35.589s |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:37.575s | 1:36.732s | 1:36.192s |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 1:37.124s | 1:36.580s | 1:36.237s |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1:36.936s | 1:36.814s | 1:36.540s |
| 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:37.569s | 1:36.630s | 1:36.542s |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1:37.757s | 1:36.982s | |
| 12 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:37.619s | 1:37.132s | |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:37.934s | 1:37.309s | |
| 14 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:37.255s | 1:37.541s | |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:37.890s | 1:37.743s | |
| 16 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1:37.994s | ||
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 1:38.166s | ||
| 18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:38.577s | ||
| 19 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 1:38.635s | ||
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:38.682s |
Q1: Vettel faster than Mercedes as Toro Rosso misses the cut
With the sun setting over Yas Marina, Sauber's Charles Leclerc was the first driver to set a time on hypersoft tyres but he was immediately pushed aside by the two Toro Rossos of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley. The first of the big guns to complete a lap was Kimi Raikkonen, who opened his account with a time of 1:37.010s which his Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel promptly beat by a slender 0.064s.
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was just over a hundredth of a second further back in third followed by Valtteri Bottas, while an improved lap from Leclerc put the Sauber ahead of the Force India drivers Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez. On his own flying lap, Daniel Ricciardo encountered a gaggle of slower cars but still inserted himself between the two Silver Arrows in fourth with Max Verstappen a touch slower just behind him.
As more laps were completed, Vettel improved to 1:36.775s and Bottas popped up to second place ahead of Hamilton's latest. That demoted Raikkonen to fourth ahead of the Red Bulls. Leclerc also found himself going backwards, pushed down the order by the initial flying efforts from Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz, and by Romain Grosjean whose Haas team mate Kevin Magnussen was conversely down in 16th and flirting with elimination.
As the chequered flag came out, Ocon put in a stunning lap to leap up to fourth while his team mate was likewise safely through to Q2 in ninth. Leclerc bounded into the top ten in seventh place, and Marcus Ericsson also successfully dodged elimination in 12th place.
In his final Formula 1 qualifying session - for the time being at least - Fernando Alonso slipped into the second round in 14th place ahead of Magnussen who just managed to improve ahead of the Toro Rossos, Gasly ending his session with an apparent engine problem which thwarted his final push. Stoffel Vandoorne ended his final qualifying for McLaren in 18th ahead of the two Williams cars of Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll.
Q2: Hamilton flies on ultras, sets new track record
The circuit floodlights were in the ascendency as the remaining 15 cars headed back out on track for the second round. The front runners were now attempting to run on ultrasofts, the better compound on which to start Sunday's race, but it was still a gamble as to who would have enough single-lap speed to successfully get through to the final pole shoot-out round. Force India were hoping that they did, but Renault was playing safe on hypers.
The slower compound certainly didn't stop Hamilton from immediately setting a new track record with a time of 1:35.693s, seven tenths faster than last year's pole sitter Bottas. Raikkonen, Vettel, Ricciardo and Sainz, were next up, all of them more than a second off Hamilton's impressive benchmark meaning none of them could feel comfortably assured of making it through to Q3 - let alone Verstappen, who only managed tenth on his run.
Despite their advantage, Hamilton and Bottas both came back out on new sets of hypersofts to cover off any possible upsets, even though neither had any intention of improving upon their earlier times if they didn't have to. Hamilton's reign at the top was indeed unthreatened, but Verstappen improved to second on hypers whileVettel was able to go third ahead of Bottas despite keeping faith with the ultras for his second run.
Also safely through were Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Ocon and Ricciardo. Raikkonen and Ricciardo had both managed to abort their final runs on hypers in time to allow their initial time on the ultras to stand. Missing out on the top ten and duly eliminated from qualifying were Sainz, Ericsson, Magnussen, Perez and Alonso.
Q3: Mercedes lock out the front row ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull
With the desert skies now properly dark and the matter of tyre strategy for the race out of the way, the ten remaining drivers could fully focus on purely punching in their fastest laps on hypersoft tyres in pursuit of pole for tomorrow's season finale.
Hamilton succeeded in pushing the goalposts even further out of reach with his first Q3 run clocking in at 1:35.295s, but Vettel responded by going second quickest just 0.057s behind the Mercedes. Bottas was provisionally on the second row alongside Ricciardo, which meant that Raikkonen was pushed down to fifth alongside Verstappen. Grosjean and Hulkenberg were best of the rest after everyone had completed their initial laps of the final round.
Hamilton was first to complete his second and final run, and he managed to successfully improve his time by a staggering half a second. Bottas also went faster this time, pushing onto the front row ahead of Vettel who will now start Sunday's race from third alongside his team mate Raikkonen. Ricciardo could find nothing extra and was left in fifth place to make it an all-Red Bull third. Grosjean remained best of the other contenders in seventh, followed by Leclerc, Ocon and Hulkenberg.
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