page_title: 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
section_title: Practice and qualifying
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix / Report / Practice and qualifying
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Fernando Alonso abu dabi 2010
context_page_description: The 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 November 2010 at the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, an island on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It was the 19th and last round of the 2010 Formula One season. The 55-lap race was won by Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel after starting from pole position. Lewis Hamilton finished second in a McLaren, and teammate Jenson Button completed the podium, in third place.
  A second race win in succession – as well as a second consecutive Abu Dhabi Grand Prix win – for Vettel, coupled with other championship contenders Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber finishing second, seventh and eighth respectively, allowed him to become the youngest World Drivers' Champion, at the age of 23 years, 134 days. Button's third place allowed him to finish fifth in the championship standings, having been eliminated from championship contention at the previous race in Brazil.
  Due to injuries sustained in a rally crash prior to the 2011 Formula One season, this was the last Formula One race for Robert Kubica until his return in 2019. This was also the last Grand Prix for Lucas di Grassi and Christian Klien.
context_section_description: Three practice sessions were held before the race; the first on Friday afternoon and the second on Friday evening. Both sessions lasted 90 minutes. The third session was held on Saturday afternoon and lasted an hour. All three sessions were held in dry conditions, although the first session was held on a damp but drying track after a pre-session downpour which had not been anticipated. Vettel was quickest with a time of 1:42.760 in the first session, just over six-tenths of a second faster than Hamilton. Button was another four-tenths off Hamilton's pace, followed by Webber, Robert Kubica, and Alonso. Michael Schumacher was seventh, the only other driver to be within 1.5 seconds of Vettel's time. In the second practice session, Hamilton was fastest with a time of 1:40.888, around a quarter of a second quicker than second-placed Vettel. Alonso took third place, ahead of Webber, Kubica and Felipe Massa. Schumacher was only quick enough for eleventh position in the session, marginally slower than his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. The Saturday afternoon session was held on a much warmer track, which reached temperatures as high as 43 °C (109 °F), compared with 29 °C (84 °F) and 31 °C (88 °F) track temperatures for the Friday sessions. Vettel was again quickest, posting a time of 1:40.696, narrowly faster than teammate Webber. Hamilton, Alonso, Button and Vitaly Petrov rounded out the top six positions.
  The qualifying session held on Saturday evening was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes and eliminated the cars from qualifying that finished the session 18th or lower. The second part of qualifying lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 17. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position. Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to change tyres before the race, and as such started the race on the tyres that they set their quickest lap on.
  Vettel clinched his tenth pole position for the season, with a time of 1:39.394. As a result, Vettel became only the seventh driver to record ten pole positions in a season, and took his team's 15th pole of the season, equalling McLaren's tally from the 1988 season. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Hamilton. Alonso qualified third, though he was happy with his grid position having outqualified Webber. Button qualified fourth, four-tenths of a second behind Vettel, and Webber qualified fifth. Massa, Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher, Rosberg and Petrov rounded out the top ten. Kubica only managed 11th – missing out on the top ten for the only time in 2010 – having struggled with overall grip in the session. Kamui Kobayashi was best of the Saubers in 12th, ahead of the German trio of Adrian Sutil, Nick Heidfeld and Nico Hülkenberg, with Vitantonio Liuzzi qualifying 16th. The rest of the grid was made up by the Toro Rossos, the Lotuses, the Virgins and the Hispanias.
caption: Fernando Alonso only required a top-two placing to win the title without having to rely on other results. He placed in the top six in each of the three free practice sessions, and qualified third for the race.
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