Nico Rosberg has boosted his chances of being crowned 2014 Formula 1 world champion by beating Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole position in qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this afternoon.

The German set a quick time early in the final part of qualifying for the last race of the season, while the championship leader carried too much speed into the final corner on his flying lap, resulting in him locking up his tyres.

Williams's Valtteri Bottas completes the top three, having gone quicker than teammate Felipe Massa with his final lap of the day.

Jenson Button, who is yet to secure a drive for next season, outqualified his McLaren teammate as Kevin Magnussen missed out on a place in the top 10, while the 2009 world champion finished eighth

British driver Will Stevens set the slowest time on his F1 debut with Caterham, but will not start from the back of the grid as Lotus's Romain Grosjean has a grid penalty.

1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
4. Felipe Massa (Williams)
5. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
7. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
8. Jenson Button (McLaren)
9. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
10. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
11. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)
12. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
13. Sergio Perez (Force India)
14. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
15. Adrian Sutil (Sauber)
16. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
17. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
18. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus)
19. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham)
20. Will Stevens (Caterham)