Welcome back to ESPNF1's live coverage of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. Qualifying is just 30 minutes away and we appear to have a genuine fight on our hands after Hamilton topped the timesheets from the two Red Bulls in final practice.

Hamilton was 0.427s faster than Vettel, but we've seen the Red Bulls turn up the wick in qualifying so many times this season that it would be no surprise if we had an all-RB7 front row.

One thing the drivers have to take into account in this session is the setting sun and the lowering temperatures. That means track conditions will be ever so slightly different from final practice to Q3 and the drivers will have to keep that in the back of their minds as they tread the knife edge with their final qualifying lap.

This is a truly remarkable circuit and our friends at Sutton Images have been hunting out the best vantage points for photos. This is one of our favourites so far.

© Sutton Images

There's a hive of activity around the rear of Barrichello's Williams at the moment as the team works to fix an oil leak. Barrichello completed just five laps in final practice and the car has been right at the back of the midfield all weekend. To make things worse, team-mate Maldonado has a ten-place gid penalty for exceeding his engine allocation this weekend, so will likely start from the back no matter what.

Vettel is aiming to macth Mansell's record of 14 pole positions in one season this weekend. He's got 13 so far this season, compared to Webber's three and Hamilton's one. Records seem to mean quite a lot to Seb so he'll be keen to push for it this evening.

The other record Vettel is chasing is 13 wins in a season - currently held by Schumacher - but he needs to win both tomorrow and Brazil to match that.

The sun is getting low in the sky with long shadows across parts of the circuit. Expect to see drivers change their visors through the session from a heavy tint in Q1 to clear in Q3. Air temperature has dropped to a pleasant 26C with track temp at 32C.

There are reports that Bahrain's Crown Prince is in the paddock this weekend. Music royalty is also expected with Paul McCartney apparently on the VIP list.

Senna, Petrov, Maldonado, Perez, Buemi among the many cars heading out on the track early on.

Ferrari on which front wings their cars are using: "So the situation is the following: Felipe will use the old spec front wing, Fernando the new one." Massa was having some problems with his new wing wobbling on the straights earlier this weekend.

Barrichello is expected to leave the pits soon after some hard work down in the Williams garage.

Alguersuari sets an early sighter lap with a 1:43.895. Paul di Resta pips him with a 1:42.816.

Webber is on a lap on the medium tyres and sets a 1:41.816 to go fastest. The aim for the front runners is to get through Q1 without using the soft tyres.

Vettel goes to the top of the timing screens with a 1:41.268 but these are just just sighter laps, don't read too much into the times at the top. The place to look is towards the back of the grid to see who is going to be knocked out before Q2. Barrichello is still in the garage at the moment...

Hamilton is fastest again with a 1:40.661 and is going even faster on this lap... but comes across di Resta in the final sector and backs off.

Button rockets to the top of the timing screens on the medium tyres with a 1:40.227. He's been struggling with the balance of the car all weekend so its encouraging to see him back on the pace.

Webber pips Button and Hamilton tops them both with a 1:39.782.

Still no sign of Barrichello. It'll be no surprise that Kovalainen, Ricciardo, Glock, d'Ambrosio, Liuzzi and Trulli are all in the drop zone along with him.

The McLarens, Red Bulls, Ferraris and Mercedes have all returned to the pits and will hope to stay there.

Di Resta pops up to fifth on the soft tyres. The midfield cars are all out on softs but Schumacher is staying in the garage despite dropping to 14th now.

Now Schumacher goes out on the softs after dropping behind Maldonado. But Barrichello will not set a time and that means Schumacher is safe.

So the two Williams will start from the back row unless Maldonado can pull something very special out in Q2 to counter his ten-place grid penalty.

Paul McCartney has arrived in the paddock, just in time for the business part of qualifying.

Kovalainen has put in a cracking lap to get within 0.3s of Schumacher's medium tyre lap. Schumacher is now setting things straight with a soft tyre lap, but aborts as there is no need to take any more life out of those tyres.

Barrichello says Williams put a brand new engine in his car for today's running but an unspecified problem meant he couldn't get out in qualifying. Clearly he's very disappointed. He adds that this is the toughest season of his 19-year F1 career.

The sun is now ducking down below the horizon as Buemi and Alguersuari lead the cars out for the start of Q2.

Webber goes top on the soft tyres with a 1:39.209, but that is smashed by Vettel and Hamilton with a 1:38.516 and 1:38.434 respectively.

The session has been stopped to clear debris on the track. A bollard has been knocked out at turns ten and eleven. Massa knocked it into the racing line and then one of the McLarens clipped it as well.

The bollard has now been removed and the session will start again in a minute.

Massa is the first man to get back out on track. He's sixth fastest at the moment but is over a second off the five cars in front.

Rosberg is now heading out after failing to set a time yet this session. Sutil and di Resta are still in the pits but definitely have the pace to make Q3. Maldonado may opt to stay in the garage because of his ten-place grid penalty.

Massa improves his time but is still firmly in sixth. He took plenty of kerb through the turn 11 and 12 chicane but got away with it.

The Force Indias are now out on track.

Di Resta gets up to ninth with his lap and Sutil is eighth. Schumacher is now on the brink in tenth but Perez in 11th has to improve by 0.3s to beat him.

Maldonado has gone out in the Williams but is not looking anywhere near the pace.

The top seven are back in the pits and safe for Q3. Perez is on a better lap as is Petrov back in 14th.

Senna pops up to 13th as the flag drops.

Sutil and di Resta both improve, they should be safe.

Petrov jumps back up to 12th. Perez can't embarrass Schumacher with his latest effort but does secure 11th.

Good laps from Perez, Petrov and Buemi, all beating their team-mates. As predicted, Maldonado qualified firmly back in 17th.

Now our focus returns to the front of the grid with a great battle brewing between Hamilton and Vettel. The McLaren has been quickest in Q1 and Q2 but Q3 - in two minutes - is what counts.

Button leads Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso and Massa for the start of Q3.

Rosberg is heading out on mediums, which seems like a strange choice. The Force Indias are capable of beating him if they use the softs but the big question is whether they will bother setting a time.

Webber and Vettel are also out on track. We hear from the Mercedes radio that Rosberg is heading back to the pits on those medium tyres, so is clearly trying to bank seventh on the grid in the event that the Force Indias and Schumacher don't go out on track.

Button sets a 1:39.013 but Hamilton immediately beats him with a 1:38.704 - slower than his Q2 time.

Webber splits the McLarens with a 1:38.858.

Vettel is also just off the pace of Hamilton with a 1:38.746, 0.042s off the McLaren.

All the top drivers will run again.

Vettel was also slower than his Q2 time so we know there should be more time to be found. However, it's worth noting that track temperature has dropped 10C since the start of Q1.

Button is leading the train of cars, Alonso and Hamilton are behind him.

Hamilton is slightly slower than Button in sector one .... Button maintaining his advantage over Hamilton in sector two ...

Button goes fastest but Hamilton pips him with a sensational final sector.

But Vettel beats them both with a 1:38.481 - a brilliant lap to take pole position. And to match Mansell's record of 14 pole positions in one season.

Hamilton actually set the fastest time of all in qualifying with his Q2 time but Vettel was the driver capable of putting the best lap together in Q3.

It was a fantastic session and good performance from Button to take third on the grid. Alonso and Massa line up fifth and sixth. Rosberg beat Schumacher and Sutil was ninth after di Resta opted not to set a time.

Thank you for joining us for qualifying. We'll be back for the race tomorrow and will bring you all the news from the drivers post qualifying this evening, so keep checking the website.