Nico Rosberg grabs Abu Dhabi pole

Abu Dhabi: Nico Rosberg produced one of the best laps of his career when he snatched his sixth straight pole position with a dramatic late effort in Saturday’s qualifying for Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 30-year-old German, who was trailing, outpaced his Mercedes team-mate and newly-crowned three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton by 0.377 seconds with his final effort in a closely-fought twilight session under floodlights at the Yas Marina circuit.

Hamilton had been fastest in the two earlier sessions and led Rosberg before he reacted to take pole again, as he did before last year’s showdown race, with a stunning show of speed.

“Primarily, I would just like to win this race because it’s a great feeling,” said Rosberg, who lost last year’s championship in Abu Dhabi when he suffered a mechanical failure after starting from pole.

“I am not thinking about momentum for next year...Before, it was close in the other direction and now it’s close in this direction,” Rosberg said. Hamilton, still stuck on 49 pole positions as he has been since the Italian Grand Prix in early September, said: “I’ve been struggling with the car a little all weekend.

“We’ve been working hard to make some changes, but Nico was just quick today.” Finn Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari qualified third on the grid for Sunday’s race behind the two Mercedes, as they achieved another front-row lockout, after his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, had failed to progress from Q1.