Abu Dhabi: Nico Rosberg maintained his recent dominance of his Mercedes teammate and world champion Lewis Hamilton by storming to his sixth straight pole position of 2015 at the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday.
It puts the world championship runner-up in a strong position to win his sixth Grand Prix of the year — and third in a row — at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday.
The German secured first place on the grid — his seventh of the season and 22nd of his career — following a blistering final lap of 1:40.237 in qualifying to beat Hamilton by three tenths of a second.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished third, ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez.
Raikkonen’s teammate Sebastian Vettel will start 16th after Ferrari miscalculated the lap time the four-time world champion required to advance beyond the first knockout session.
But, like the entire season during which only Sebastian Vettel has interrupted the Mercedes duo’s hegemony with three wins, this was all about Rosberg and Hamilton’s fierce tussle for supremacy.
In an oscillating session, he beat Hamilton by a massive 0.377 seconds and was quicker on the first runs in the top 10 shoot-out.
But Hamilton, who said he had implemented unspecified changes in a bid to check Rosberg’s resurgence, then outpaced his teammate by 0.124 secs with his last lap — only for Rosberg to respond with a fabulous final flourish.
The 30-year-old will now hope to expunge the misery of last year’s Abu Dhabi GP, when he lost the world title to race winner Hamilton. This followed problems with his engine recovery system, which badly affected his car and saw him limp home in a dismal 14th place.
Hamilton, on the other hand, has much to ponder as he seeks to return to the imperious form which saw him power to 10 victories and clinch his third world title at the US GP last month.
Meanwhile, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso could take a sabbatical from F1 next year, McLaren boss Ron Dennis told the BBC on Saturday.
The Spaniard’s current contract expires at the end of 2017, but McLaren have struggled in their first year with engine partner Honda to lie ninth out of 10 teams.
Alonso’s personal fortunes have been similarly bleak, the 34-year-old toiling in 17th place in the 21-strong drivers’ championship with only 11 points — five behind teammate Jenson Button.
Could Alonso — whose woes continued on Saturday when he qualified 17th out of 20 for the Abu Dhabi GP — miss the 2016 season if he struggles again?
“He will definitely finish his career in McLaren,” Dennis said. “I have an open mind to anything. Some of the ideas have involved those sorts of considerations — sabbatical years.”
“It’s not really for me to say — it’s up to Ron to have his opinions, I can’t really comment,” Alonso said in response.
