Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel Denied McLaren's Lewis Hamilton Pole Position

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel denied McLaren's Lewis Hamilton pole position at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a devastating final lap.

The German's feat saw him equal Nigel Mansell's all-time record of 14 pole positions in a season, set in 1992.

McLaren's Jenson Button starts on the second row, ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Scot Paul di Resta chose not to set a time in final qualifying and will line up 10th for Force India.



McLaren had dominated every practice session at the Yas Marina circuit but, as he has done so many times this season, Vettel found some vital extra pace when it counted.

When asked if he had dug deep to claim his 29th career pole, Vettel answered: "Oh yes.

"Lewis looked very strong all weekend so it was good that we were able to be that little bit quicker than him.

"I wasn't happy with the car (on Friday). This place is tricky in many ways. It's not easy to get it right all the time.

"I think it'll be a long race. Lewis and Jenson will be very quick in the race. I'm confident, and ready."

Vettel adopted his usual tactic of being the last man to emerge from the pits in the final minutes of qualifying.

He pushed his Red Bull round the visually stunning Yas Marina circuit, brilliantly lit up by floodlights as darkness finally fell on the twilight session, and beat Hamilton's benchmark by 0.141 seconds.

"At the end that was as far as I could get out my lap," said Hamilton, who is the only man other than Vettel to claim pole this season and actually did a lap in the second qualifying session that would have put him on pole had he repeated it.

"It wasn't a great last lap, the car was understeering a little bit. The one I did in Q2 was better but it's been a good couple of days.

"I'm happy to be on the front row and to not have any penalties is a blessing for me."

Button was just 0.009secs adrift of Hamilton's time but said he had struggled for balance all weekend.

"We know the pace is in the car and it was finding the right balance," Button said. "I've not felt 100% comfortable all weekend.

"Q3 was very strange as there was less grip, the circuit was cooler and the car was acting differently."

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