Hamilton on pole in Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton will be on pole position for Sunday's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with championship leader Nico Rosberg in second.

Hamilton, who has been faster than his Mercedes team-mate in every session this weekend, beat the German to pole by three-tenths of a second in qualifying.

However, Rosberg needs only to finish in the top three on Sunday to win the world championship.

The pole is Hamiton's 12th of the season and Mercedes 20th, a F1 record, and the Briton's 61st of his career, four behind Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna and seven behind all-time record holder Michael Schumacher.

"Wow, 61 poles. I am going to try to catch Ayrton. It has been a strange feeling coming here and realising it was going to be the last session, the last qualifying in such a great car - you never know when you are going to have a car like this again.

"We got the car in a great sweet spot and I want to thank everyone - I would not have the 61 poles if it was not for them. We are in the perfect position for tomorrow."

Rosberg admits that Hamilton has set the pace this weekend after topping all three sessions of qualifying.

"I had a good balance and was feeling quite pleased. I got a good lap in the end but it was not good enough," he said.

"I gave it everything but it wasn't possible to beat Lewis today. But I will give it everything tomorrow."

Daniel Ricciardo was third quickest in qualifying, just ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in fourth and and Sebastian Vettel in fifth, but Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen will start from sixth on the grid following an error on his flying lap.

Williams' Felipe Massa, making his last appearance in F1, made the top ten after outpacing team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Photo (©Getty Images/Mark Thompson)

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