Rosberg, currently seventeen points behind Hamilton in the battle for the driver's title, knew he had to claim pole position in Abu Dhabi to have a realistic chance of overtaking his teammate and rival for Formula One's biggest prize. And although Hamilton had been fastest in practices, the German turned in a stunning third qualifying lap of 1:40.697 to ensure he headed the pack for Sunday's race.

Hamilton made a couple of minor mistakes on his final qualifying lap and only clocked a time of 1:40.866. That was just good enough to pip Williams' Valtteri Bottas, whose best lap was 1:41.025. He'll share the second row with teammate Felipe Massa.

Danniel Ricciardo was fifth fastest on the day and Sebastian Vettel sixth quickest for a Red Bull third row. But all eyes will be on the two Mercedes drivers on Sunday.

In an attempt to engineer a down-to-the-wire title race, Formula 1 changed the rules this season, so that the final race is worth double the usual amount of points. For Rosberg to win the title, he needs to finish first and have Hamilton come in third or worse, or, if he doesn't win, the German needs to finish at least three spots better than his English teammate.

Theoretically, the circuit in Abu Dhabi features five or six stretches that allow for overtaking, but in the past, it's proved hard for drivers to pass one another. Four years ago Vettel claimed his first Formula title when his main rivals got stuck in traffic in the pack.

That would suggest that Hamiltion is still the favorite to pick up his second Formula 1 drivers' title. But anything can happen during the race itself, which gets underway at 2 pm CET on Sunday.