For the eleventh time in 2014, Nico Rosberg will start from pole position as the German laid down a lap of 1:40.480 seconds in Q3. It is the German's 15th career pole and will give him sole possession of 20th on the all-time pole sitters list breaking a tie with Alberto Ascari, Ronnie Peterson, James Hunt and Rubens Barrichello. This will be Rosberg's first career start on the front row at Abu Dhabi. His teammate Lewis Hamilton ended up second, 0.386 seconds slower than the German. The pole-sitter has only won once at Abu Dhabi. That was Sebastian Vettel in 2010 as he went on to win the world championship with that victory. The driver starting second has won three of five Abu Dhabi Grands Prix while the pole-sitter has retired twice at Abu Dhabi.
Williams swept row two with Valtteri Bottas in third, 0.545 seconds back of Rosberg. Felipe Massa was fourth, 0.094 seconds back of his teammate. The furthest back a Abu Dhabi winner has come from is fourth when Kimi Räikkönen won driving for Lotus two years ago. Daniel Riccardo rounds out the top five with his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel qualifying sixth for his final grand prix with the team. Vettel qualified third on his Red Bull debut at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. Both Red Bull's had their qualifying times excluded after the front wing on each car were found to be flexing, a breach of the regulations. Both cars will start at the back of the grid.
The man who will replace Vettel at Red Bull, Daniil Kvyat ended up seventh with Jenson Button in eighth. Tomorrow could mark the 266th and final start of Button's Formula One career. Only Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher have made more starts. Button qualified 21st at his first grand prix back at Australia at 2000. Kimi Räikkönen qualified ninth with Fernando Alonso rounding out the top ten. Alonso was 2.386 seconds behind Rosberg in Q3. Alonso started third in his first grand prix for Ferrari. He went on to win that day from Bahrain in 2010.
The rookie Kevin Magnussen missed Q3 by 0.030 seconds with Jean-Éric Vergne 0.009 seconds behind the Dane. The Force Indian pairing Sergio Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg ended up 13th and 14th respectively in qualifying. Just under a tenth and a half separated the teammates. Adrian Sutil rounded out the top fifteen.
Romain Grosjean failed to make it out of Q1 and ended up 16th but he will have to go to the rear of the grid after switching to his sixth engine this weekend. He missed advancing to Q2 by 0.022 seconds. Esteban Gutiérrez ended up 17th ahead of Pasto Maldonado with the Caterhams of Kamui Kobayashi and Will Stevens having the slowest times. Maldonado was 1.653 seconds back of Hamilton's fastest lap in Q1 wile Kobayashi and Stevens were 3.333 seconds and 3.888 seconds behind Hamilton respectively.
NBCSN's coverage of the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will begin at 7:00 a.m. ET with the race scheduled to start at 8:00 a.m. ET.
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