Abu Dhabi – Qualifications: Lewis Hamilton the Spoiler!

Sunny skies this late afternoon in the Emirates for the eighteenth qualifying session of the season, where the battle between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton is anticipated following the free practice sessions.

Q1: As soon as the green light is on, Kamui Kobayashi, Romain Grosjean, and Pastor Maldonado are the first to hit the Yas Marina track. The Williams driver sets the initial benchmark time with 1:42.595. Five minutes into the first part of qualifying, only the two Red Bulls remain in the pits, while Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean position their Lotus cars in provisional second and third places.

Fernando Alonso takes the lead with a 1:42.574, but Maldonado doesn’t let him keep it for long, clocking a lap in 1:42.375. With eleven minutes remaining, the Red Bulls start to show outside the pits. Räikkönen takes second position, less than two-tenths behind the Venezuelan, who is still surpassed by Alonso with a 1:42.115. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, seems to be in trouble with a recurring lock-up on the front left. The Brit manages a 1:41.497, six-tenths ahead of Alonso.

On his side, Sebastian Vettel more than brushes the wall as he touches it at the exit of the passage under the hotel, without consequences however. Alonso closes in on Hamilton, coming within four-tenths, as does Massa. Following are Button and Vettel, both nine-tenths behind the future Mercedes driver. The soft tires start to be fitted by the trailing drivers, notably from Force India or Mercedes. Webber sets the second-fastest time while Vettel secures the fifth. But Rosberg, on soft tires, takes the provisional second place.

In the battle to get into Q2, Vergne makes a mistake and goes off track, without hitting anything. Unsurprisingly, the last attempt by the Frenchman is not successful, and he is eighteenth and the first to be eliminated. Charles Pic manages to place his Marussia between the two Caterhams and ahead of his teammate. All drivers are within the 107% range.

Eliminated in Q1: Vergne, Kovalainen, Pic, Petrov, Glock, De la Rosa, and Karthikeyan.

Q2: The second part of the qualifying session begins, and after a few moments of silence, Di Resta and Pérez take to the track. Only Hülkenberg is not on the track at the start of Q2. Pérez sets the first benchmark time at 1:42.313, quickly surpassed by Maldonado, Räikkönen, Grosjean, Webber, and then Hamilton, who clocks a lap at 1:41.366. Alonso secures the second-fastest time, two-tenths behind.

At mid-session, Vettel takes the second position with a time of 1:41.511. Webber makes his mark by placing his Red Bull at the top of the timesheet, but Hamilton quickly responds by reclaiming the lead with a time of 1:40.901, three-tenths ahead of the Australian. In the last three minutes, the top eight drivers are comfortably in the pits, although Button and Massa, in seventh and eighth respectively, prefer to play it safe and head back out, just in case.

In the last seconds, Rosberg enters the top 10, pushing Hülkenberg out. The situation is simple, one must go under one minute forty-two to catch the Q3 train: something neither Pérez, nor Senna, nor Di Resta manage to do.

Eliminated in Q2: Hülkenberg, Pérez, Di Resta, Schumacher, Senna, Kobayashi, and Ricciardo.

Q3: Räikkönen is the first to head out, in front of Grosjean. The first round, unusually enough, will be contested by more than four drivers. The Finn sets a lap time of 1:41.756, it’s the first benchmark, but Alonso does better by two-tenths. Lewis Hamilton comes in and sets a time of 1:40.630, nine-tenths ahead of the Spaniard. The Red Bull drivers slot in between with Webber six-tenths and Vettel four-tenths behind. Rosberg and Button are behind these four and in front of the two Lotus drivers.

Felipe Massa chose to start in the second part of Q1 and finds himself with a clear track ahead of him. He sets the sixth fastest provisional time. Nico Rosberg, who is just ahead of the Brazilian, walks along the pit lane and is done for this session. Maldonado, meanwhile, sets the third fastest provisional time, two-tenths off Vettel.

The final round of timed laps is about to begin as the checkered flag drops over the finish line at Yas Marina: Webber takes the second-fastest provisional time while Alonso does not improve. Vettel secures third place, and it’s pole position for Lewis Hamilton, the 25th pole of his career, the 154th for McLaren.

During his deceleration lap, Sebastian Vettel is ordered to stop his car on the side of the track. The reasons for this sudden stop are not yet known.

2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Rankings: