Hamilton ends pole position drought in Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the fifth time as he looks to round out another championship-winning season with a final flourish.

The 88th pole position of Hamilton's career has been a long time coming after a nine-race run without a qualifying victory since Germany - his longest run without Saturday celebrations as a Mercedes driver.

However, the drivers' champion was back on-song around the Yas Marina Circuit, taking P1 with a dominant margin of three tenths of a second from Max Verstappen in third place.

Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas was second-quickest, but the Finn will start the race at the back of the grid as a result of engine penalties, promoting Verstappen to the front row.

Charles Leclerc will start in third, ahead of Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel, despite missing the chequered flag in the final runs of Q3, with Alexander Albon bringing up the rear of the front-running cars.

Lando Norris took best-of-the-rest honours in seventh on the timesheets, pipping McLaren team-mate Carlos Sainz 11-10 in the intra-team qualifying battle across the season.

Sainz will start sandwiched by the Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg.

Wile the McLaren battle has been the tightest on the grid, George Russell secured a 21-0 season win over Robert Kubica in Q1.

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