Lewis Hamilton secures pole at Abu Dhabi GP

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, holding off the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton clocked 1 minute, 40.630 seconds on the 5.6-kilometer (3.5-mile) Yas Marina circuit Saturday, 0.348 seconds quicker than Webber.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, 13 points behind Vettel in the drivers' standings with three races remaining, slumped to a disappointing seventh. The Spaniard has struggled all weekend with pace and last-minute changes by his team have failed to improve his performance.

Pastor Maldonado of Williams will start fourth followed by Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus and Jenson Button of McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton fastest in 3rd practice at Abu Dhabi GP

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Saturday's prequalifying practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix followed by his McLaren teammate Jenson Button.

Hamilton clocked 1 minute, 42.130 seconds on the 5.6-kilometer (3.5-mile) Yas Marina circuit, 0.290 seconds quicker than Button.

Two-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, who leads the drivers' championship, came in third after coming onto the track late with less than three minutes to spare and completing only two laps. Vettel's Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, who still has a mathematical chance of winning the title, was fourth.

Vettel's strongest rival for the title, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, only managed eighth. He has struggled all weekend with pace and a second late night for his engineers working on the car didn't seem to help.

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