Hamilton grabs Abu Dhabi pole, Mercedes locks out front row

Lewis Hamilton stormed to his 11th and final Formula 1 pole position of the season in Abu Dhabi on Saturday after topping qualifying at the Yas Marina Circuit, heading up a front row lock-out for Mercedes.

Hamilton looked to be on course for pole after comfortably finishing fastest in Q2 on the Ultrasoft tyre, only for a scruffy first Q3 run to allow Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel to draw to within one-tenth of a second at the front of the field.

However, Hamilton was able to dig deep on his final flying lap and turn in a new track record of 1m34.794s to clinch his 11th pole in 21 races this year, and the 83rd of his glittering F1 career.

A slow final lap from Vettel allowed Valtteri Bottas to grab second place for Mercedes with his final lap, clinching a front row lock-out for the constructors’ champion team.

Vettel was left to settle for third place on the grid after finishing three-tenths shy of Hamilton’s final lap following a poor last sector going to the flag. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen will make his final Ferrari start from P4 on the grid.

Red Bull struggled to put up much of a fight to the Ferrari and Mercedes runners at the front of the pack, with Daniel Ricciardo finishing six-tenths shy in fifth place ahead of Max Verstappen – who called his final lap in qualifying a “f**king disaster” - in sixth. Verstappen is the only driver in the top six who will start on Hypersoft tyres.

Romain Grosjean was the lading midfield driver for Haas, taking seventh ahead of Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, while Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 for Force India and Renault respectively.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was edged out of qualifying in Q2 by just 0.018 seconds as he took 11th for Renault. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson finished 12th for Sauber ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Force India’s Sergio Perez, with all four drivers losing out to their respective teammates.

Fernando Alonso will make his final F1 start from 15th on the grid after hauling his McLaren into Q2, with his engineer praising a “magic” lap from the Spaniard to get through the opening stage of qualifying. Alonso was unable to beat any of his rivals in the second session, though, leaving him at the foot of the Q2 order.

Alonso completed a perfect 21-0 season qualifying victory over Stoffel Vandoorne, who failed to make it through to Q2 after lapping seven-tenths of a second slower than his teammate, leaving him 18th overall.

Toro Rosso suffered a double Q1 elimination as Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly finished 16th and 17th respectively. Hartley had been set to advance before losing one second in the final sector, while Gasly reported an issue with his engine on his final lap, forcing him to park up at the side of the track just after crossing the line.

Sergey Sirotkin’s final F1 qualifying session saw him beat Williams teammate Lance Stroll to take P19 on the grid, with the team finishing the season rooted to the bottom of the order.