Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two with record Abu Dhabi lap

Lewis Hamilton led a dominant Mercedes one-two ahead of Valtteri Bottas to take pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Silver Arrows have locked out the front row at the Yas Marina Circuit for a fifth year in succession - a new record for a circuit in Formula 1.

Hamilton ends 2018 having taken his 83rd pole position and 11th of another title-winning campaign.

Bottas won from pole here last year, but will have to get the better of his teammate if he is to break his win drought for 2018 at the final hurdle.

Hamilton lowered the Yas Marina lap record to one minute 34.794 seconds, with Bottas 0.162secs adrift.

YES!!!!!!!! He’s done it!!! ????

Pole position under the lights for @LewisHamilton at the @ymcofficial!!#AbuDhabiGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/2nOP5ca4yQ — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) November 24, 2018

Sebastian Vettel leads Kimi Raikkonen in an all-Ferrari second row, while the Red Bulls will fill row three – Daniel Ricciardo qualifying ahead of Max Verstappen in his final race for the team.

Verstappen has a headache for the race as he will start the race on hypersoft tyres, with the rest of the top five on the more durable ultrasofts after the Dutchman made a mess of his opening lap in Q2.

He will have an advantage off the line, but will have to eke life out of his fragile tyres to avoid being undone.

Romain Grosjean, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg round out the top 10.

There was more record-making further down the grid, with Fernando Alonso outqualifying Stoffel Vandoorne once again in his final F1 race.

The Spaniard's 21-0 whitewash is the first time a driver has outqualified his teammate at every race of a season since Alonso himself did it to Nelson Piquet Jr in the Renault in 2008.

QUALIFYING RESULTS

Q2

Carlos Sainz was unfortunate to come 11th, just 0.017secs down on Ricciardo, who aborted his final run to secure a hypersoft start. Marcus Ericsson, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez were all outqualified by teammates while Alonso dropped out in 15th.

Q1

Familiar faces going out in Q1 included Vandoorne and the Williams pair of Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll. The Toro Rossos also dropped out, Brendon Hartley ahead of Pierre Gasly, whose final flyer was curtailed by engine failure.