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Sebastian Vettel equalled Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 pole positions in a single Formula One season after a last-gasp effort gave him top spot in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The world champion set a lap of 1 minute 38.481 seconds to pip McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button right at the end of the session.
Hamilton had dominated both practice and the first two parts of qualifying and set the initial pace in the all-important top-10 shootout, with Vettel just behind him while Mark Webber completed the top three.
Button had only been fourth following his first flying lap but surged to the top of the standings before Hamilton toppled him by just nine-thousandths of a second.
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Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in First Practice at Yas Marina
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Fastest in Second Practice at Yas Marina
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Fastest in Final Practice at Yas Marina
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Final Practice Results
It looked like the 2008 world champion would be starting on pole for the second time this season but Vettel, running last of all the major contenders, produced a blistering effort at the death.
Webber was fourth in the other Red Bull with the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso rounding out the top five at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Felipe Massa was next, albeit almost seven tenths slower than his team-mate Alonso. SkySports
The two Mercedes of Germans Nico Rosberg and seven-time champion Schumacher were seventh and eighth best.
The Force India pair of German Adrian Sutil and British rookie Paul Di Resta rounded out the top 10.
Sunday’s penultimate round will be a day-night-race over 55 laps with the season concluding later this month in Brazil. CNN International
Sergio Perez’s final run for Sauber failed to better his 1m 40.874s, leaving him 11th ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov on 1m 40.919s.
Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi had to be content with 1m 41.009s, and Bruno Senna was close with 1m 41.079s for Renault as Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi and Williams’ Pastor Maldonado were similarly closely bunched on 1m 41.162s, 1m 41.240s and 1m 41.760s. The session was momentarily interrupted by red flags whilst the marshals cleared a damaged bollard.
As Hamilton had set the pace comfortably in Q1 with 1m 39.782s, the Lotuses of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli headed those who failed to get through the session. The Finn was within three-tenths of Schumacher, on 1m 42.979s, with team mate Jarno Trulli making a late improvement to 1m 43.884s.
Timo Glock managed 1m 44.515s to place his Virgin 20th, while Daniel Ricciardo was HRT’s leader on 1m 44.641s ahead of Jerome D’Ambrosio’s Virgin on 1m 44.699s. Tonio Liuzzi struggled with his HRT to 1m 45.159s, while Rubens Barrichello failed to do a lap after an oil leak from FP3 could not be fixed in time.
That made it a doubly bad day for Williams, as team mate Maldonado drops from 17th place to the back row with him due to his 10-place grid penalty for using a ninth engine since India. That makes the provisional final order from 17th place: Kovalainen, Trulli, Glock, Ricciardo, D’Ambrosio, Liuzzi, Barrichello and Maldonado. Formula 1
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