It’s the last Formula 1 race weekend of the year and the two Mercedes rivals are still desperately trying to out-do each other in order to take maximum psychological momentum into the off-season. So time to find out how today’s qualifying went for tomorrow’s duel in the desert….
Rosberg keeps late season momentum going with 6th consecutive pole, Hamilton P2; Raikkonen P3 in Quali to spare Ferrari’s blushes after Vettel inexplicably bounced in Q1
Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com
As day turned into night and the sun began to set on F1 for 2015, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg continued his late season onslaught by out-dueling his teammate for pole in Abu Dhabi, the German’s sixth in a row. While Lewis Hamilton may have let up ever so slightly since clinching his second consecutive Drivers’ Championship back in Austin, Rosberg nevertheless has responded to that disappointment very well by winning the last two races in Mexico and Brazil. And Rosberg set himself up for a possible three-win streak to finish out the year by yet again besting his English nemesis as time ran out in Q3. Hamilton will surely be just as keen to balk Rosberg as Rosberg is to enter the off season on an ego-soothing high so the first lap of tomorrow’s race should be a doozy at the fast and twisty Yas Marina circuit.
Ferrari had very mixed results, with bad strategy costing their ace Sebastian Vettel a chance to get out of the first round. The braintrust from Maranello inexplicably sent Vettel out too late in the session to improve on his initial banker lap, which was set on the prime tires. So when other drivers began to overhaul him using the super soft option tires, the former 4-time World Champion found himself outside looking in with not enough lead time to improve his position. Vettel will start from 16th and will have to count on his superior overtaking skills and positive past results at this track to help him slice through the field at Yas Marina yet again. His teammate Kimi Raikkonen was able to save a little face for the Scuderia by snatching P3 on the grid as Q3 expired, just pipping Force India’s Sergio Perez for the position. Perez, who has been running strong all weekend, will start P4, bettering his teammate Nico Huldenberg’s P7.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was solid, out-qualifying his teammate Daniil Kvyat P5 to P9, while Williams’ Valtteri Bottas gradually improved to finish P6 in the final qualifying round after looking in danger of being bounced out in each earlier session. Rounding out the Top 10, Bottas’ teammate Felipe Massa will start P8 and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz will start 10th on the grid.
Top 10 qualifiers for Abu Dhabi:
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | NICO ROSBERG | MERCEDES | 1:41.111 | 1:40.979 | 1:40.237 | 12 |
| 2 | 44 | LEWIS HAMILTON | MERCEDES | 1:40.974 | 1:40.758 | 1:40.614 | 12 |
| 3 | 7 | KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN | FERRARI | 1:42.500 | 1:41.612 | 1:41.051 | 14 |
| 4 | 11 | SERGIO PEREZ | FORCE INDIA | 1:41.983 | 1:41.560 | 1:41.184 | 18 |
| 5 | 3 | DANIEL RICCIARDO | RED BULL RACING | 1:42.275 | 1:41.830 | 1:41.444 | 17 |
| 6 | 77 | VALTTERI BOTTAS | WILLIAMS | 1:42.608 | 1:41.868 | 1:41.656 | 19 |
| 7 | 27 | NICO HULKENBERG | FORCE INDIA | 1:41.996 | 1:41.925 | 1:41.686 | 15 |
| 8 | 19 | FELIPE MASSA | WILLIAMS | 1:42.303 | 1:42.349 | 1:41.759 | 20 |
| 9 | 26 | DANIIL KVYAT | RED BULL RACING | 1:42.540 | 1:42.328 | 1:41.933 | 22 |
| 10 | 55 | CARLOS SAINZ | TORO ROSSO | 1:42.911 | 1:42.482 | 1:42.708 | 17 |
Complete race results available at Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s F1 season finale airs live beginning at 8AM Eastern on NBCSN here in the States. It’s the last chance to catch Grand Prix action in 2015 and with two motivated Mercedes drivers duking it out for off-season bragging rights, as well as some fast cars fighting for positions from the back, it should be a race worth remembering until the 24 Hours of Daytona wakes us from our winter motorsports hibernation in January. Hope to see you then!