Rosberg on pole for Abu Dhabi F1 denouement

Nico Rosberg is in pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which will decide the driver’s title for 2014. Lewis Hamilton is in second place for a Mercedes one-two.

After year of F1 dominance from Mercedes, the driver’s title comes down to a final shoot-out at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and Nico Rosberg has the upper hand after taking pole position for tomorrow’s race, pushing Lewis Hamilton in to second spot.

In any normal year, Lewis would only have to finish sixth or better to guarantee the title if Rosberg wins the race  – he’s currently 17 points ahead of Rosberg – but with the mickey-mouse decision to award double points for the Abu Dhabi race, Hamilton will need to finish second if Rosberg wins.

It looked like the pressure might be getting to Hamilton, with a couple of messy laps in final qualifying handing pole position to Rosberg, with Rosberg now going in to tomorrow’s race on the back of three poles in a row.

Behind the Mercedes duo it’s the Williams of Bottas and Massa in third and fourth, the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Vettel in fifth and sixth, Daneil Kvyat in an impressive seventh for Toro Ross, Jenson Button – in what could be his last F1 race – in eighth for McLaren and the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Alonso in ninth and tenth.

But the race will be all about the Mercedes drivers, and should be a good ‘un.