Mark Webber beat Red Bull team-mate and new
world champion Sebastian Vettel to pole position
at the Abu Dhabi GP.
Webber, who has struggled to beat Vettel at the Yas
Marina track, was 0.1 seconds quicker than the
German.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was third as team-mate
Lewis Hamilton spun on his final lap and took fourth.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, battling to keep second in
the championship, was 11th, out of the top 10 for the
first time this year.
The Spaniard was beaten by team-mate Felipe Massa
for the fifth time in six races and the eighth occasion in
17 grands prix this season.
The Brazilian was eighth quickest in the top 10 shoot-
out, behind Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen in fifth,
Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lotus's Romain
Grosjean.
McLaren's Sergio Perez and Toro Rosso's Daniel
Ricciardo completed the top 10, while Force India's
Paul Di Resta was 12th, just behind Alonso.
Ferrari have been struggling with a lack of traction but
Alonso was 0.104secs adrift of Massa in second
qualifying, doing little to quieten questions about his
form in qualifying in the second half of this season.
His erstwhile title rival Vettel will be just as disappointed
with second place.
The 26-year-old was fastest after the first laps in the
top 10 shoot-out but after Webber pipped him on the
Australian's final run, Vettel failed to improve.
Vettel flicked his head in frustration several times as he
crossed the line after completing his final lap.
Webber said: "This weekend has gone pretty smoothly.
Not the smoothest path to the start of Q2 or Q1, we
were not electric. We changed the car quite a bit and I
got more and more comfortable as the session went
on. It made me more comfortable in the final sector,
where Seb has been quick, so I was able to match him
there and keep where I had been quick already."
Vettel said he made a mistake in Turn One. "I was
pushing hard, that's the reason behind it," he said.
"You can always say there is a bit here and there, but if
you push to the maximum and try to get everything out
you can do mistakes.
"I'm not very proud of that. But I did what I could and
it wasn't enough to be on pole. Mark deserves to be on
pole."
Red Bull were in a league of their own, half a second
clear of Rosberg, but Hamilton lost any chance of a
front-row start when he got on to the kerb on the exit
of Turn 13 and then spun at Turn 14 on his final lap.
Hamilton said over the radio that he felt something had
broken on the car.
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