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Germany’s Nico Rosberg on Saturday claimed pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, edging out Mercedes teammate and arch-rival Lewis Hamilton.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo in a Red Bull will start from the third row alongside departing teammate and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Ahead of them are Williams pair Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa of Brazil.
Rosberg, who secured his 11th pole of the season, has to come first and hope Hamilton finishes outside the top two to overtake the Briton and take the Formula One drivers’ title.
Rosberg’s time was 0.386 of a second ahead of Hamilton. It will be the eighth straight race when Mercedes have both front-row places.
Hamilton was quicker than Rosberg in the first two qualifying sessions, but the German driver set the pace in Q3. Hamilton almost went off the track as his brakes locked heading into the final corner.
Like the F1 season itself, this weekend has been close between the Mercedes teammates and Hamilton could not quite find enough speed on his last run.
Hamilton leads Rosberg by 17 points overall, with double points on offer in Sunday’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, meaning a win is worth 50.
Although Hamilton leads Rosberg 10-5 in race wins, the German is up 11-7 in pole positions including four of the past five races.
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