Lewis Hamilton seized pole position for today's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas who completed a front-row lockout for Mercedes in the final qualifying session of the year. The Briton, who clinched his fifth championship crown with two races to spare in Mexico last month, dazzled under the floodlights, lapping the Yas Marina circuit in one minute 34.794 seconds.

Bottas, who won from pole in Abu Dhabi last season but is still seeking his first win this year, had been hoping to score a repeat of that result but fell short by 0.162 seconds. Sebastian Vettel took third for Ferrari 0.331 seconds off Hamilton's pace. "It was quite an emotional qualifying session for me because it's the last time I'm going to be qualifying in this car," said Hamilton after the session. "I've been closest to this than probably I've been to any car." Yesterday's pole was Hamilton's 11th this season and a record-extending 83rd of his career. He has also now taken pole in 52 of the 100 qualifying sessions that have been held since Formula One's turbo-hybrid era began in 2014.