Nico Rosberg bolstered his hopes of winning the Formula One drivers' title by claiming pole position for Sunday's United States Grand Prix.
The Mercedes-GP driver has not won in six races and has fallen 17 points behind teammate Lewis Hamilton with only three races of the season remaining.
But the German claimed his ninth pole of the season as his lap of one minute, 36.067 seconds around the Circuit of Americas track, proved too good for Hamilton, who was three-10ths of a second slower.
It was the sixth successive race in which Mercedes, who have already sealed the constructors’ title, have locked out the front row of the grid as they maintained their dominance.
The Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will form the second row, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull Racing car and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel, who had taken pole at the previous two stagings of the race, will start from the pit lane on Sunday.
The four-time world champion’s Red Bull Racing had to have a new power unit installed, exceeding the five each car is allocated to use during the season.
The German set only one competitive lap time as he went 17th quickest on Saturday of the 18 cars that took part in the session, knowing he would be penalised regardless of how quick he went.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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