Abu Dhabi GP: Rosberg extends pole streak, Vettel starts 16th

Rosberg beat Hamilton by the margin of 0.377s, in a duel that went right to the last lap of Q3.

In the final qualifying session of 2015, the big shock was Sebastian Vettel’s exit in Q1 when – despite using two sets of supersofts – he didn’t set a lap quick enough to progress.

Ferrari appeared to believe his first lap was enough to get him through, which proved to be erroneous. His teammate Kimi Raikkonen will start third. 

Story of Q3

Despite using a higher-mileage engine, Rosberg set the early pace with 1m40.738s, almost three tenths clear of Hamilton’s scruffy opening gambit.

The impressive Sergio Perez (Force India) was less than half a second off the pole time at that point, ahead of Raikkonen.

On the second runs, Hamilton jumped to P1 on 1m40.614s but Rosberg wasn’t to be denied and slammed in 1m40.237s to snatch pole by 0.377s.

Raikkonen took third with 1m41.051s, beating Perez, with Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull taking fifth.

Valtteri Bottas will start sixth for Williams, ahead of the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.

Felipe Massa (Williams), Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) and Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) round out the top 10.

Sainz triumphs in Verstappen battle in Q2

In Q2, Hamilton was quickest on 1m40.758s, 0.221s faster than Rosberg.

Those that didn’t make it into the top-10 shootout were Max Verstappen, who was pushed out by Toro Rosso teammate Sainz by 0.041s, along with McLaren’s Jenson Button, Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr.

Lotus’s Romain Grosjean hit a technical problem and had to cruise back to the pits without changing gear.

He went out at the end of the session, but was forced to pull off on the back straight, consigning him to 15^th.

Vettel makes shock exit in Q1

In the first qualifying session, Hamilton set the fastest time with 1m40.974s, 0.137s ahead of Rosberg.

Vettel was in trouble all session, having to bolt a second set of supersoft tyres – but even that wasn’t enough as he aborted his final lap in the misguided belief that he was through.

“No issues with the car, but it wasn’t enough to go through,” he said. “Obviously as a team we didn’t make the right decision.”

Alonso suffered a puncture when something appeared to fly off the right-hand side of his car, and he will start 17^th having outpaced Button for most of the session.

Marcus Ericsson encountered a technical problem on his last lap, which consigned him to 18^th, ahead of the Manors of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi.

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:41.111	1:40.979	1:40.237	12
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:40.974	1:40.758	1:40.614	12
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:42.500	1:41.612	1:41.051	14
4	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:41.983	1:41.560	1:41.184	18
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:42.275	1:41.830	1:41.444	17
6	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:42.608	1:41.868	1:41.656	19
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:41.996	1:41.925	1:41.686	15
8	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:42.303	1:42.349	1:41.759	20
9	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	1:42.540	1:42.328	1:41.933	22
10	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:42.911	1:42.482	1:42.708	17
11	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:42.889	1:42.521		14
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:42.570	1:42.668		12
13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team	1:42.929	1:42.807		13
14	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:42.896	1:43.614		14
15	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	1:42.585			11
16	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:42.941			7
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:43.187			5
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:43.838			7
19	Will Stevens	Manor	1:46.297			7
20	Roberto Merhi	Manor	1:47.434			8