It was Vettel’s 10th pole this season, becoming only the seventh driver in the 60 years of F1 to claim double figures in a season – Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen, Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher the others.

It was also Red Bull’s 15th pole of the year, equalling the F1 record set by Williams in 1992 and 1993 and McLaren in 1988 and 1989.

Behind the front row, championship leader Fernando Alonso starts third, a position good enough for him to clinch a third world title if the grid positions were to remain the same come the end of the 55 laps.

McLaren’s Jenson Button starts fourth, with Mark Webber a lowly fifth in his Red Bull and in need of help tomorrow if he is to close the eight-point gap to Alonso and overhaul the Spaniard.

The top 10 is completed by Felipe Massa in his Ferrari, Williams' Rubens Barrichello, the Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, and finally Renault's Robert Kubica.

During the 15-minute Q2 Hamilton’s mindset appeared to be awry as he initially outbraked himself into turn 11, running wide, forcing him to abort that particular hot lap.

Then on a subsequent out lap the 25-year-old failed to see Massa on a quick lap of his own as he cut across the Brazilian’s line on the approach to turn five.

Within a split second Hamilton realised Massa’s position and took evasive action by cutting across the corner, sending flying a thin plastic bollard that was also housing a television camera.

Hamilton was fortunate Massa also made it into Q3 as the stewards opted not to take any action, otherwise it might have easily led to a five-place grid penalty.

The session resulted in Petrov beating Renault team-mate Robert Kubica for only the second time this season, with the Pole 11th ahead of Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi.

The Force India duo of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi will start 13th and 16th, sandwiching Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Nico Hulkenberg in his Williams.

It was a case of back down to earth with a bump for Hulkenberg who last Saturday in Brazil gave Williams their first pole position for five and a half years.

Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari lines up in 17th ahead of team-mate Sebastien Buemi, the duo enjoying their own private duel at the end of Q1, with the former ousting the latter by 0.117secs.

As has been the case virtually all season the three debut teams concluded their final qualifying campaign by occupying the last six places on the grid.

Lotus Racing have the edge over rivals Virgin and Hispania as Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen will start 19th and 20th ahead of Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi.

Hispania duo Bruno Senna and Christian Klien line up 23rd and 24th, the latter still over four seconds away from finding a place in Q2.

FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Leading positions after Qualifying:

1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 39.394secs,

2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:39.425,

3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:39.792,

4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:39.823,

5 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:39.925,

6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:40.202,

7 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 1:40.203,

8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:40.516,

9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:40.589,

10 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:40.901,

11 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:40.780,

12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 1:40.783,

13 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:40.914,

14 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:41.113,

15 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1:41.418,

16 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:41.642,

17 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:41.738,

18 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:41.824,

19 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 1:43.516,

20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 1:43.712,

21 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:44.095,

22 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 1:44.510,

23 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 1:45.085,

24 Christian Klien (Aut) HRT-F1 1:45.296