McLAREN’S LEWIS HAMILTON will start from pole position after qualifying fastest for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday.

Hamilton recorded a time of one minute and 40.630 seconds to finish ahead of the Red Bull pair of Mark Webber (1:40.978) and Sebastian Vettel (1:41.073) and seal his sixth pole of the year.

Williams driver Pastor Maldonado (1:41.226) ended the session in fourth with Kimi Raikkonen a further 0.034 seconds further back in fifth. Hamilton’s McLaren teammate Jenson Button (1:41.290) will start from sixth.

In a result that could have a massive influence on the drivers’ championship, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (1:41.582) could only manage to qualify in seventh after a disappointing session.

The Spaniard is currently 13 points behind world championship leader Vettel and will have to make up considerable ground on race-day if he is to catch German Vettel.

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg (1:41.603) finished in eighth while Felipe Massa (1:41.723) and Romain Grosjean (1:41.778) rounded out the top 10.

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