Lewis Hamilton takes dominant Abu Dhabi pole position

[Lunix I]

Lewis Hamilton secured a superb pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The world champion, who had not had a pole since the German Grand Prix in late July, beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.194 seconds.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third, 0.360secs behind, as there was yet another foul-up at Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc did not cross the line in time to start a final lap and seemed to blame team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Leclerc still managed to qualify fourth, one place ahead of Vettel, but the incident is unlikely to improve relations at Ferrari, whose drivers crashed together at the last race in Brazil to put both cars out of the race.

"We are not going to make it," Leclerc said over the radio, after being told earlier in the lap that they were tight on time. "Seb is slowing down."

Red Bull's Alexander Albon took sixth place, with Lando Norris best of the rest in seventh.

Hamilton was thrilled to end his season with a pole - he has admitted the fact Bottas had one more than him up to this point was rankling with him.

"Definitely a very good qualifying session for us," he said. "It has not been the easiest for us this year but we have kept plugging away. The car is well suited to the track and it has been feeling good. Yesterday was difficult and I had to reset myself for today. The first lap felt special and the second one was an improvement.

"I don't think my qualifying has been terrible but not up to my usual standard. It's my last qualifying session with this car and it has been a really incredible journey with it this year so to finish it with a pole is a really good feeling."

Bottas will not be able to challenge Hamilton in the race as he will start from the back of the grid because of a penalty for using too many engine parts.

The race battle - if there is one - is likely to be between Hamilton and Verstappen, who will start on the front row alongside the Mercedes following Bottas' penalty.

Verstappen said: "We just seemed to lack a bit of grip compared to them. They are always really dominant on this track and we are just lacking a bit too much in that last sector. We have to be realistic and I think Mercedes is really quick but we will give it everything we have in the race."