Nico Rosberg secured his sixth consecutive pole position in Abu Dhabi, beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the top spot by almost four tenths.
Hamilton looked to have the speed in qualifying, topping both Q1 and Q2, but Rosberg pulled it out of the bag when it came to the top ten shoot-out.
Force India proved their practice pace wasn’t for show, as Sergio Perez popped up in fourth behind the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, under a second off Rosberg’s time.
Meanwhile the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg starts seventh, behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.
Jenson Button narrowly missed out on the top ten, eventually securing 12th, whilst Fernando Alonso failed to escape Q1 following a left-rear puncture.
Sebastian Vettel starts 16th after a strategic error. The German thought he’d done enough to make it through to the next session, but that was a judgement error as he slipped back.
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Qualifying):
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
| 01 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:40.237 | – |
| 02 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:40.614 | 0.377 |
| 03 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:41.051 | 0.814 |
| 04 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:41.184 | 0.947 |
| 05 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:41.444 | 1.207 |
| 06 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:41.656 | 1.419 |
| 07 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:41.686 | 1.449 |
| 08 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:41.759 | 1.522 |
| 09 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:41.933 | 2.696 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:42.708 | 2.471 |
| 11 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:42.521 | 2.284 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:42.668 | 2.431 |
| 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:42.807 | 2.570 |
| 14 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:43.614 | 3.377 |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | ||
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:42.941 | |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:43.187 | |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:43.838 | |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:46.297 | |
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:47.434 |
