Lewis Hamilton took the pole for the inaugural Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi with a lap time over a half second faster than second-place starter Sebastian Vettel.
It's the 17th pole for the McLaren driver. Hamilton has won seven of his 11 victories from a pole position start, including his last victory in this year's Grand Prix of Singapore.
Red Bull's Vettel is trying to hold onto the second spot in the standings at the series' last outing of the season. The championship title has already been awarded to Brawn GP's Jenson Button, but Vettel has a narrow two-point lead on Brawn's Rubens Barrichello.
Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, may help him in his quest as he'll start third, next to Barrichello on the second row. Webber's fourth-place standing on the season is already set.
Hamilton is trying to hold onto his fifth-place standing from Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who trails him by one point. Raikkonen, who qualified 11th, is making his last start with Ferrari.
2009 Champion Button managed to grab the fifth starting spot and will be joined on the third row by Toyota's Jarno Trulli.
BMW-Sauber teammates Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld will start on the fourth row in seventh and eighth, respectively.
The last drivers to make it into Q3 were Williams-Toyota's Nico Rosberg and Scuderia Toro Rosso's Sebastian Buemi, who will start ninth and 10th, respectively.
The Formula One Series is racing at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE for the first time. The race will start in the daylight and be concluded under the lights and begins at 8 a.m. (ET) Sunday, Nov. 1.
