Sebastian Vettel claimed his 14th pole of a dominant season in Abu Dhabi Saturday to equal a longstanding Formula One record.
Vettel drew level with Britain’s Nigel Mansell, who headed the grid 14 times during his triumphant title winning season with Williams in 1992.
The 26-year-old German drove his Red Bull to a time of one minute 38.461 seconds on the Yas Marina circuit, pipping McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who had been fastest in the two earlier qualifying sessions.
Vettel, who has already been crowned double world champion, will be bidding for his 12th victory of the season Sunday, one shy of the all-time record held by Germany’s Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton, who will start one place higher on the grid than his teammate Jenson Button, believes McLaren are making strides at the end of the season. CNN International
Then come the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, with the Force India pairing of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta on the fifth row, although neither man set a time in the final outing.
Following the 29th pole of his career, Vettel said: “I had to dig deep, especially after yesterday because I wasn’t happy with the car in general.
“We thought the pace was there, but we couldn’t quite get to it. Today it was better, but the conditions change from practice to qualifying with the sun going down and the temperature changing.
“In qualifying I had a much better feeling, especially on the soft tyres, but then the other difference here is to get everything into one lap because it’s long.
“Although there’s plenty of opportunity to gain time, if you take risks it’s easy to make a mistake.” The Press Association
Pos No Driver Team 1 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 2 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 3 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 4 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 5 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 6 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 7 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 8 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 9 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 10 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 11 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 12 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 13 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 14 9 Bruno Senna Renault 15 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 16 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 17 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 18 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 19 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 20 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 21 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 22 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 23 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 24 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
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