Sebastian Vettel will start from pole position for the final race of the season, giving his title ambitions a massive boost.
Lewis Hamilton qualified second quickest but could face a grip-drop as he blocked Felipe Massa during Q2, the FIA will surely be looking into the incident.
The McLaren will split Vettel and championship leader Fernando Alonso who will start ahead of Jenson Button and Mark Webber. The Australian will start the race from fifth, a big blow to his title fight.
Massa, Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov round off the top ten.
Robert Kubica will start 11th after his team-mate out-qualified the Pole.
The battle lower down the grid was between Toro Rosso team-mates Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi. The two switched places before the Spaniard managed to jump into 17th to avoid the drop-zone, whilst Buemi joined Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, Timo Glock, Lucas di Grassi, Bruno Senna and Christian Klien.
Abu Dhabi Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:40.690 | 1:40.074 | 1:39.925 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:40.335 | 1:40.119 | 1:39.425 |
| 1. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:40.318 | 1:39.874 | 1:39.394 |
| 4. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:40.877 | 1:40.014 | 1:39.823 |
| 11. | R. Kubica | Renault | 1:41.336 | 1:40.780 | |
| 3. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:40.170 | 1:40.311 | 1:39.792 |
| 6. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:40.942 | 1:40.323 | 1:40.202 |
| 13. | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:41.473 | 1:40.914 | |
| 15. | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | 1:41.015 | 1:41.418 | |
| 12. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:41.045 | 1:40.783 | |
| 14. | N. Heidfeld | Sauber | 1:41.409 | 1:41.113 | |
| 10. | V. Petrov | Renault | 1:41.018 | 1:40.658 | 1:40.901 |
| 7. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:40.904 | 1:40.476 | 1:40.203 |
| 8. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:41.222 | 1:40.452 | 1:40.516 |
| 9. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:40.231 | 1:40.060 | 1:40.589 |
| 18. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:41.824 | ||
| 17. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:41.707 | 1:41.738 | |
| 16. | V. Liuzzi | Force India | 1:41.681 | 1:41.642 | |
| 19. | J. Trulli | Lotus | 1:43.516 | ||
| 23. | B. Senna | Hispania | 1:45.085 | ||
| 20. | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | 1:43.712 | ||
| 22. | L. di Grassi | Virgin | 1:44.510 | ||
| 21. | T. Glock | Virgin | 1:44.095 | ||
| 24. | C. Klien | Hispania | 1:45.296 |
