LEWIS HAMILTON ON TRACK

LEWIS HAMILTON put his rivals in the shade as he scorched to an historic pole for the maiden Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The British ace dominated qualifying at the stunning new £26billion Yas Marina Circuit.

Hamilton finished a massive 0.7 secs quicker than his closest challenger.

New F1 champ Jenson Button qualified a disappointing fifth for F1's first day-night race.

McLaren star Hamilton said: "It is never easy but it certainly was as fun as it looked out there.

"The car was the best it's been all year.

"What they have done to this place is mind-blowing. It is awesome and it's great to be the first man on pole here.

"We've had a great end to the season. The team have done a great job from where we started and now I want to go out and get the win for them."

Hamilton was one of only two drivers to break 1min 40secs for the new 3.4-mile track as he bagged his third pole in seven races.

The 24-year- old ex-champ took his 17th career pole from the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber as the sun set over the track and the floodlights went on.

But Button's hopes of ending his title-winning season with a victory were dashed as he finished behind Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

He admitted: "It's not a satisfactory position for a world champion."

Leading Positions after Qualifying:

1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1min 40.948secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:41.615, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:41.726, 4 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:41.786, 5 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:41.892, 6 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:41.897, 7 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:41.992, 8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:42.343, 9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:42.583, 10 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:42.713, 11 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:40.726, 12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 1:40.777, 13 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:40.983, 14 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:41.148, 15 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:41.689, 16 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:41.667, 17 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:41.701, 18 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:41.863, 19 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1:41.950, 20 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 1:42.184

This article has 0 comments