The press release from the FIA

© photo by FIA, licence: Attribution

*Update: Sebastian Vettel has been excluded from qualifying by the FIA and will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the pit lane. According to the press release released by the FIA, a copy of which you can read on your right, while it was shown that the RB7 did have a problem that caused it to stop, which was considered a case of force majeure by the race stewards, further examination showed that the car did not have enough fuel in it under FIA rules. Because of that, Vettel's car has been excluded from the qualifying results and will start the race from the pit lane. The results below now reflect Vettel at the back of the grid. */Update*

Lewis Hamilton put in a commanding performance at Yas Marina today. He led every qualifying session. Ferrari was not so lucky. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa struggled throughout the session but both made it to Q3. Read out report below to know how it happened. 

Q1: Alonso topped the timing sheets at the beginning of the session with about three minutes in, and Pastor Maldonado set a 1:42.3 about a minute later, which was about 0.2 seconds faster than Alonso. With nine minutes to go, Alonso jumped back to the top with a 1:42.1. A minute later, Hamilton did a 1:41.4, which was the fastest lap of the entire weekend so far, and put him into first with seven minutes to go.

During his first lap, Sebastian Vettel slammed the rear end of car into the barrier. He was able to keep driving, but the car needed looked at. 

Alonso was able to put in a 1:41.9, but Hamilton still held the fast lap with about 3 minutes to go. 

At the end of the session, Hamilton's time stood and behind him were Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber, Alonso, Felipe Massa and Maldonado.

Q2: It was starting to get darker in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton continued to be fast in the second session. With nine minutes, his fast time was a 1:41.3, but Vettel was just behind him with a 1:41.5. With five minutes to go, Hamilton had improved his time to a 1:40.9; he was the only person on track below the 1:41 mark at that point. Hamilton's 1:40.9 stood for the rest of the session. Michael Schumacher and Sergio Perez were both knocked out in the session.

Q1: It was dark in Abu Dhabi by this time, and the lights were on. The track was speeding up as well. Notice the major difference between the Q2 and Q3 times. Raikkonen was the first on track to set a time, and the bottom of his car was sparking like a Formula 1 car from the early 90s. He did a 1:41.7, which did not stand for long. Alonso answered immediately with a 1:41.5. Hamilton came in a few seconds later with a 1:40.6, and Webber followed him with a 1:41.2. Vettel moved into second with a 1:41.0. After these drivers had lapped, there was five minutes left in the session. Most of the drivers pitted for fresh tires. The order at this point was Hamilton, Vettel, Webber and Alonso.

Massa has waited until 3:30 was left in the session to set his first lap, and he did a 1:41.7, which was good enough for sixth place. 

The top drivers were coming back out to set their second fast laps. Maldonado was doing his first lap with just a minute to go. He did a 1:41.2, which put him in third. 

On their final laps, Webber passed Vettel for second. Alonso could not improve, and Vettel could not pass Webber. 

Hamilton's time stood to put him in first; Webber was second, and Vettel was third. 

After qualifying, Vettel stopped his car on track. His engineers came on the radio tellng him to stop the car, but the reason is not known. This could cause a grid spot penalty for him. Vettel had already stopped the car before his engineers came on telling him to stop, which would indicate a mechanical problem rather than being out of fuel. If there is any change to the order, we will update this post.