ABU DHABI: Valtteri Bottas beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to take pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday.
Hamilton, who secured his fourth world title two races ago, led on the first two split times but lost time on the final sector.
Bottas secured his second straight pole position following the Brazilian GP two weeks ago and the fourth of his career — all of them since joining Mercedes this season from Williams.
The Finnish driver set a lap record on the 5.6-kilometer (3.5-mile) Yas Marina circuit, clocking 1 minute, 36.231 seconds. He was .172 seconds ahead of Hamilton and about half a second clear of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
After just missing out on a 73rd career pole, and a personal best-equaling 12th of the season, Hamilton praised Bottas, saying "he just had an incredible qualifying, so congratulations to him."
Vettel, who won the Brazilian GP, finished ahead of Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.