Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying: Valtteri Bottas grabs pole with Lewis Hamilton second
LEWIS HAMILTON couldn’t get pole for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Valtteri Bottas set a track record to top the grid.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying: Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap to pole
World champion Hamilton had to settle for second place as Mercedes locked out the front grid.
Mercedes were a class above all day, having dominated P3 before heading into qualifying.
But Bottas reigned over his team-mate when setting the fastest time ever on this Abu Dhabi track midway through Q3.
It was Bottas’ fourth career pole and he said: “Today things were really getting better and better for me during the practice session and in qualifying.
“I just manager to find time here and there. It was all under control and it felt good in the car.
“The Q3 lap was really good, that was enough for pole and I’m really happy.
Valtteri Bottas storms to his fourth career pole
Hamilton said: “What a lap. He just had an incredible qualifying. “Congratulations to him. We have a great crowd here today. The last qualifying of the year and I gave it everything.
“I seemed to lose a bit of pace going into qualifying, Valtteri did an exceptional job and I’m really happy for him.
“Just overall little bits here and there. I was up a tenth and a half out of Turn 1 and lost it in Turn 5 or 6. It’s been an incredible year of qualifying though.”
The Ferraris and Red Bulls were forced to line up behind the two Silver Arrows for tomorrow’s race.
Lewis Hamilton had to make do with qualifying second
Hamilton is gunning for a 10th race win of the season and to add gloss to an already-successful 2017.
Abu Dhabi Grnad Prix qualifying results
1 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1min 36.231secs
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:36.403
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:36.777
4 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:36.959
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:36.985
6 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:37.328
7 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:38.282
8 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:38.374
9 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:38.397
10 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams 1:38.550
11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:38.636
12 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:38.725
13 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:38.808
14 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:39.298
15 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 1:39.646
16 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:39.516
17 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.724
18 Pascal Wehrlein (Ger) Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.930
19 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.994
20 Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:40.471