The Sunday News
Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position at the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Rosberg was 0.386 seconds faster than his Mercedes team-mate as Hamilton managed to secure second place despite an error-strewn session. Hamilton is 17 points ahead of Rosberg and needs only to finish second to the German in the race to secure the title.
Hamilton faces an evening of decisions about how to approach the race after missing out on pole.
He was fastest in the second knock-out part of qualifying as Rosberg managed only fourth place after making his own mistakes.
But, when it mattered in the top 10 shoot-out, it was Rosberg who got the job done and Hamilton who made crucial errors.
Rosberg set the benchmark with a lap of one minute, 40.697 seconds as Hamilton looked on course to at least match him before running wide at the penultimate corner and locking a wheel into the final bend to end up 0.324 seconds adrift.
On their final runs, Rosberg set the target even higher, with a lap of 1:40.480. Hamilton could manage only 1:40.866 after what Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described as another “messy lap”.
Rosberg, who won the last race in Brazil from pole and has now qualified fastest three times in a row, said: “It was a great day again.
“We did a good job sorting out the car. I was really happy with the set-up and I got a good lap in at the end.
“But it is only one step, a small step. I was hoping, who knows, there could be a Williams between the two of us and that can always happen tomorrow.
“I need to get the job done and continue on the sort of form I had in Brazil. I am sure it is going to be a great battle between the two of us. Of course I hope for more than that, some kind of help from Lewis.”
Hamilton said: “I genuinely didn’t have the best of laps but it was still a good qualifying session, I really enjoyed it. But tomorrow is the special day.”
He said his approach to the race would be “the same as always”.
The Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were third and fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Bottas was 0.545 seconds behind Rosberg, suggesting the two Mercedes will be untouchable in the race tomorrow. — BBC Sport
