Hamilton nails pole for last race of the season, Bottas P2 for Mercedes front row lockout; Vettel third fastest at Yas Marina
With all the prizes claimed on this last race weekend of the 2018 Formula 1 season, team Mercedes and their ace Lewis Hamilton showed they are still driven to win during Saturday qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. At this most stunning of venues, the brilliantly lit day-into-night Yas Marina Circuit, Hamilton decided to set a new track record instead of resting on his laurels as a newly crowned five-time F1 World Champion. The Englishman’s stunning 1:34.794 time in Q3 was over a tenth faster than his teammate, Valtteri Botas, and the two works Mercedes drivers locked out the front row easily for tomorrow’s contest. They also set their fastest times in Q2 on the preferred Ultrasoft Pirellis, which therefore will be the compound they both start on, making for an advantageous race strategy, as well.
The Silver Arrows once again outshone the Prancing Horses of Ferrari, a result all too familiar to the fabled team from Maranello this year. Sebastian Vettel, the championship runner-up, qualified in P3 and Kimi Raikkonen, who departs the team after tomorrow’s race for Sauber, set the fourth fastest time. Ferrari will be hoping their race pace is better, though, if only to salvage a win tomorrow and give Mercedes something to think about in the off season. Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified his more heralded teammate Max Verstappen P4 to P5 in what is also the Aussie’s last race for the Red Bull team as he prepares to move over to Renault. Romain Grosjean pulled his Haas all the way up to P7 on the grid, while Charles Leclerc, who takes Raikkonen’s seat with the big team next year, managed to hustle his Ferrari-powered Sauber up to P8. Esteban Ocon qualified P9 in his last drive for Force India and Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault set the tenth fastest time.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:36.828 | 1:35.693 | 1:34.794 | |
| 2 | 1:36.789 | 1:36.392 | 1:34.956 | |
| 3 | 1:36.775 | 1:36.345 | 1:35.125 | |
| 4 | 1:37.010 | 1:36.735 | 1:35.365 | |
| 5 | 1:37.117 | 1:36.964 | 1:35.401 | |
| 6 | 1:37.195 | 1:36.144 | 1:35.589 | |
| 7 | 1:37.575 | 1:36.732 | 1:36.192 | |
| 8 | 1:37.124 | 1:36.580 | 1:36.237 | |
| 9 | 1:36.936 | 1:36.814 | 1:36.540 | |
| 10 | 1:37.569 | 1:36.630 | 1:36.542 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.
Tomorrow’s race, the last of the year, airs live beginning at 8AM Eastern on EPSN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to farewell F1 before the long, cold winter break!