Nico Rosberg took pole position for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, maintaining the one-lap advantage he has held over team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the final third of the season.
Rosberg's sixth consecutive pole position was secured with a lap 0.377s faster than Hamilton after finding 0.3s in the final sector. Hamilton appeared to run wide in the penultimate corner, which may have handed the advantage to his team-mate, but it should take nothing away from Rosberg's lap. The front-row order could make make for an exciting race as Rosberg is expecting to be down on power in race conditions due to higher mileage on his Mercedes engine.
Kimi Raikkonen took third on the grid after his Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel dropped out in Q1. He managed to knock Sergio Perez out of the top three on his final attempt after the Force India driver set an impressive lap to secure his second fourth-place grid position of the year. Daniel Ricciardo took fifth place for Red Bull ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the Williams. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh in the second Force India ahead Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull and Sainz in the Toro Rosso.
Max Verstappen failed to make the top ten after setting a time 0.039s off Toro Rosso team-mate Sainz in Q2. Jenson Button hauled his McLaren to 12th on the grid ahead of Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Nasr. Romain Grosjean will start 15th in his last qualifying session with Lotus after a car problem meant he failed to set a time in Q2.
Vettel lost out in Q1 after first attempting to qualify for Q2 on soft tyres and then backing out of a super-soft tyre lap as he approached Turn 7. The error means he will start from 16th on the grid ahead of Fernando Alonso, who suffered a puncture on his fast lap and qualified 17th. Marcus Ericsson also had a car issue, leaving him 18th ahead of the two Manors of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi.