Qualifying – Abu Dhabi: Pierre Gasly unstoppable
A week after his pole position in Bahrain, Pierre Gasly once again was the best in the qualifying session in Abu Dhabi. He is again leading Stoffel Vandoorne and Mitch Evans.
During this session, Pierre Gasly left no hope for his rivals. Right from the first round of laps, he grabbed the best time ahead of his main competitors, before returning to the pits for the traditional tire change.
When the wild beasts returned to the track, the Dams driver’s time remained out of reach for his rivals since his teammate Alex Lynn could only reclaim second place, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne. Nevertheless, the McLaren protégé quickly regained his position. The three drivers then felt they couldn’t do better and decided not to launch into a final attempt in the last minute of the session.
On the other hand, Mitch Evans chose to stay on track until the last moment, which proved fruitful as he managed to snatch third place from Alex Lynn. Alexander Rossi attempted the same strategy but with less success due to a tire lock-up in the first sector. The American then had to settle for a final seventh place.
The battle for the third place in the championship promises to be intense until the end as Rio Haryanto was able to clock a better time (6th) than his rival Sergey Sirotkin (12th).
| Drivers | Teams | Time | |
| 1 | Pierre Gasly | DAMS | 1:47.769 |
| 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1:47.866 |
| 3 | Mitch Evans | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:48.014 |
| 4 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1:48.049 |
| 5 | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 1:48.419 |
| 6 | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 1:48.429 |
| 7 | Alexander Rossi | Racing Engineering | 1:48.598 |
| 8 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1:48.632 |
| 9 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:48.699 |
| 10 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:48.743 |
| 11 | André Negrao | Arden International | 1:48.822 |
| 12 | Sergey Sirotkin | Rapax | 1:48.981 |
| 13 | Norman Nato | Arden International | 1:49.105 |
| 14 | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 1:49.110 |
| 15 | Sergio Canamasas | Daiko Team Lazarus | 1:49.146 |
| 16 | Dean Stoneman | Carlin | 1:49.166 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | MP Motorsport | 1:49.350 |
| 18 | Oliver Rowland | Status Grand Prix | 1:49.374 |
| 19 | Rene Binder | MP Motorsport | 1:49.661 |
| 20 | Daniiel De Jong | Trident | 1:49.727 |
| 21 | Nathanaël Berthon | Daiko Team Lazarus | 1:49.779 |
| 22 | Marlon Stockinger | Status Grand Prix | 1:49.839 |
| 23 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 1:50.543 |
| 24 | Sean Gelael | Carlin | 1:51.604 |
From our special correspondent in Abu Dhabi
