Lewis Hamilton will line up alongside Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel for tomorrow’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit after setting an electrifying lap in Q3, more than 0.5secs faster than the rest of the field.
Hamilton set a 1:40.948 after the chequered flag had dropped in Q3 compared to Vettel’s 1:41.615. The fellow Red Bull driver Mark Webber will line up 3rd alongside Rubens Barrichello and World Champion Jenson Button will start 5th.
Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovalainen will start 13th, despite topping Friday Practice 2, although this is because he suffered a brake problem in Q2.
Elsewhere it was a reasonably impressive qualifying session in BMW Sauber’s last ever Grand Prix with Kubica and Heidfeld making it an all BMW 4th row. They qualified 7th and 8th respectively.
Ferrari had another nightmare with Giancarlo Fisichella in particular, who will start last on the grid and Kimi Raikkonen who will start an average 11th on the grid.
It was a disappointing session for Renault as both of their drivers failed to get through Q1. In twice former world champion Fernando Alonso’s final qualifying for Renault he qualified 16th. His teammate Romain Grosjean will start 19th.
The full classification is below.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.873 | 1:39.695 | 1:40.948 | 20 |
| 2 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:40.666 | 1:39.984 | 1:41.615 | 21 |
| 3 | 14 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:40.667 | 1:40.272 | 1:41.726 | 21 |
| 4 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:40.574 | 1:40.421 | 1:41.786 | 24 |
| 5 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:40.378 | 1:40.148 | 1:41.892 | 25 |
| 6 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:40.517 | 1:40.373 | 1:41.897 | 24 |
| 7 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:40.520 | 1:40.545 | 1:41.992 | 25 |
| 8 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:40.558 | 1:40.635 | 1:42.343 | 24 |
| 9 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:40.842 | 1:40.661 | 1:42.583 | 25 |
| 10 | 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:40.908 | 1:40.430 | 1:42.713 | 27 |
| 11 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:41.100 | 1:40.726 | 20 | |
| 12 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Toyota | 1:41.035 | 1:40.777 | 17 | |
| 13 | 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:40.808 | 1:40.983 | 16 | |
| 14 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1:41.096 | 1:41.148 | 18 | |
| 15 | 11 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:41.503 | 1:41.689 | 19 | |
| 16 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:41.667 | 12 | ||
| 17 | 21 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:41.701 | 10 | ||
| 18 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:41.863 | 10 | ||
| 19 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Renault | 1:41.950 | 12 | ||
| 20 | 3 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari | 1:42.184 | 12 |
Similar Articles:
End of an F1 Season - A Few Goodbyes
Paffett tops the timesheets in Jerez.
'Kindergarten week' starts at Jerez.
Ricciardo ends Young Driver test quickest.
Teams agree to joint car launch
