Nico Rosberg claims sixth consecutive Pole Position in a row for the Abu Dhabi GP

In Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi GP this afternoon, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg claimed Pole Position ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen after both the Mercedes drivers battled with each other throughout the session yet again today.

During Q1, the biggest surprise was Jenson Button becoming ninth fastest; thereby dropping Valtteri Bottas to eleventh place and as this was going on; Sebastian Vettel found himself out of Q1 and slowly making his way back to the pits. But we also saw Fernando Alonso picking up a rear left puncture on his McLaren-Honda and this hampered his process in the session.

During Q2, Nico Hulkenberg's race engineer informs him that they have a deflating front left tyre and to “take it easy on the straights”. We also saw Romain Grosjean’s race engineer asking him to bring the car home as they have a problem with the hydraulics which caused him to stop on the track 1 minute before Q2 ended.

Q3 saw both Rosberg and Hamilton battling with each other on the track for Pole Position; with Hamilton at the end of the session putting in a good lap time to put himself in contention as further down the grid Raikkonen and Perez were battling each other for third place; with Raikkonen slightly edging out the Force India who have been on cracking form so far this weekend.

But it was Nico Rosberg who topped the timesheets with a lap time of 1.40.237 to claim his seventh Pole Position of the season and his sixth consecutive Pole Position in a row ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 0.377 seconds behind him but was ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who finished in third place (his best of the season) who was 0.814 seconds behind the Mercedes of Rosberg.

Sergio Perez finished the session in fourth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place, Valtteri Bottas in sixth place and Nico Hulkenberg in seventh place. Felipe Massa ended the session in eighth place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in ninth place and Carlos Sainz Jr who rounds off the top ten finishers.

Max Verstappen ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Jenson Button in twelfth place, Pastor Maldonado in thirteenth place, Felipe Nasr in fourteenth place and ahead of Romain Grosjean in fifteenth place. As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Sebastian Vettel finished in sixteenth place ahead of Fernando Alonso in seventeenth place, Marcus Ericsson in eighteenth place, Will Stevens in nineteenth place and Roberto Merhi in twenieth place.

The classification of Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi GP is as follows:-

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.40.237
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.377s
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.814s
4. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 0.947s
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1.207s
6. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.419s
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.449s
8. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.522s
9. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 1.696s
10. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.471s
11. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1.42.521
12. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.42.668
13. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.42.807
14. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.43.614
15. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, No Time Set
16. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.42.941
17. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.43.187
18. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.43.838
19. Will Stevens, Manor, 1.46.297
20. Roberto Merhi, Manor, 1.47.434 **
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa