Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Rosberg was 0.386 seconds faster than his Mercedes team-mate as Hamilton managed to secure second place despite the errors he made during the whole qualifying session.
Hamilton is 17 points ahead of Rosberg and needs only to finish second to the German in the race to secure the world title.
The Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were third and fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who completed the top five.
| Pos. | Drivers | Teams | Time | Laps |
| 01. | 06 –  Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:40.480 | 13 |
| 02. | 44 –  Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:40.866 | 12 |
| 03. | 77 –  Valtteri Bottas |
Williams Martini Racing | 1:41.025 | 18 |
| 04. | 19 –  Felipe Massa |
Williams Martini Racing | 1:41.119 | 20 |
| 05. | 03 –  Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull Racing | 1:41.267 | 12 |
| 06. | 01 – Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull Racing | 1:41.893 | 17 |
| 07. | 26 –  Daniil Kvyat |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:41.908 | 18 |
| 08. | 22 – Jenson Button |
McLaren Mercedes | 1:41.964 | 18 |
| 09. | 07 – Kimi Raikkonen |
Scuderia Ferrari | 1:42.236 | 15 |
| 10. | 14 –  Fernando Alonso |
Scuderia Ferrari | 1:42.866 | 19 |
| 11. | 20 –  Kevin Magnussen |
McLaren Mercedes | 1:42.198 | 13 |
| 12. | 25 –  Jean-Eric Vergne |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:42.207 | 12 |
| 13. | 11 –  Sergio Perez |
Sahara Force India | 1:42.239 | 15 |
| 14. | 27 – Nico Hulkenberg |
Sahara Force India | 1:42.384 | 12 |
| 15. | 99 – Adrian Sutil |
Sauber F1 Team | 1:43.074 | 14 |
| 16. | 08 – Romain Grosjean |
Lotus F1 Team | 1:42.768 | 10 |
| 17. | 21 – Esteban Gutierrez |
Sauber F1 Team | 1:42.819 | 8 |
| 18. | 13 –  Pastor Maldonado |
Lotus F1 Team | 1:42.860 | 8 |
| 19. | 10 –  Kamui Kobayashi |
Caterham F1 Team | 1:44.540 | 8 |
| 20. | 46 – Will Stevens |
Caterham F1 Team | 1:45.095 | 7 |
| Q1 107% Time | 1:48.291 | |||
| Note: 08 – Romain Grosjean – qualified P16, drops 4 grid places as part of 20-place penalty for power unit changes; also incurs an in-race drive-through penalty in lieu of unused places. |
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