Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the impressive Yas Marina Circuit as the out-going champion absolutely dominated the hour of evening running, topping the time sheets in each of the three qualifying rounds by a significant margin.

Despite a small error on his first qualifying run that left him tenth on the provisional grid, Hamilton saved his best lap to the end of the ten minute pole shoot out, crossing the line an astonishing six-tenths of a second clear of the field. With his KERS advantage on the long 1.2km back straight, it is hard to see anyone other than Hamilton taking victory in the final race of the season.

Heikki Kovalainen’s woes deepened (*) when it emerged he will drop even further down the grid after suffering a gearbox failure during the ‘Q2′ segment.  The McLaren transmission cannot be repaired and therefore must be replaced for the race, incurring a five-place grid demotion for an unscheduled change. Kovalainen therefore drops from 13th to 18th.

The second Friday practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend got underway as the sun dipped below the horizon, allowing the impressive lighting system taking over the task of illuminating the new 5.556km Marina Bay Circuit. Heikki Kovalainen saved his best to last, as he moved to the top of the time sheets in his McLaren Mercedes with a best lap of 1:41.307s just ahead of the checkered flag.

Lewis Hamilton was second fastest to make it a McLaren one-two, the duo using the KERS advantage down the long 1.2km back straight. Hamilton ended the day two-tenths off the ultimate pace with champion-elect Jenson Button close behind in third position in his Brawn Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest in the leading Red Bull Renault, and frequently the quickest racer in the tighter segments of the circuit.

Lewis Hamilton dominated the 61-lap Singapore Grand Prix to take the checkered flag ten seconds clear of Timo Glock on a day when his main race rivals eliminated themselves from contention after making mistakes. Hamilton’s second race win of the season, his 11th with McLaren Mercedes, was sealed when first Nico Rosberg and then Sebastian Vettel were handed penalties for errors exiting and entering the pit lane. From that point, he was able to back off, conserve the car and a drive on to a relatively easy victory.

The big news from the three rounds of night time qualifying was not Hamilton taking pole, but rather Button getting knocked-out in Q2.  On the tight streets of Singapore, the outlook does not seem favorable for the championship leader in tomorrow’s Grand Prix.  Rubens, on the other hand made his way into Q3, but crashed the BGP Chassis in the final seconds of the session, thoroughly spoiling a handful of hot laps on fresh rubber.  Before he made contact with the wall however, he was sitting in 5th place, and with the 5 spot penalty for changing his gearbox outside of the 4-race minimum, Barrichello will start 10th.

Lewis Hamilton clinches his 15th career Pole at Monza, while Adrian Sutil continues to ride wave of success at low downforce circuits for Force India.  Taking a close look at the fuel weights, there seems to be 2 different race strategies playing out.  The top 3 qualifiers seem to be on a 2 stop fuel strategy, while the remaining 7 will most likely opt for a one-stopper.  It should be interesting to see it unfold, as we will have 2 different races transpiring simultaneously, and will not see the true placement until the second round of pit stops. Monza never fails to entertain!

Saturday Qualifying Results:

Lewis Hamilton’s KERS equipped McLaren Mercedes storms from 4th to 1st and holds it to go on to win his first Grand Prix of the season, elsewhere on the track Alonso’s wheel was spinning off.