Lewis Hamilton potvrdil dominanciu McLarenu v Abú Zabí a s veľkým náskokom získal pole position v premiérovej kvalifikácii na okruhu Yas Marina. Na druhom a treťom mieste sa za ním zoradili jazdci tímu Red Bull Racing.
Výsledky:
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39,873 | 1:39,695 | 1:40,948 | - | |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:40,666 | 1:39,984 | 1:41,615 | + 0,667 | |
| 3 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:40,667 | 1:40,272 | 1:41,726 | + 0,778 | |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:40,574 | 1:40,421 | 1:41,786 | + 0,838 | |
| 5 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:40,378 | 1:40,148 | 1:41,892 | + 0,944 | |
| 6 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:40,517 | 1:40,373 | 1:41,897 | + 0,949 | |
| 7 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:40,520 | 1:40,545 | 1:41,992 | + 1,044 | |
| 8 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:40,558 | 1:40,635 | 1:42,343 | + 1,395 | |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:40,842 | 1:40,661 | 1:42,583 | + 1,635 | |
| 10 | Sébastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:40,908 | 1:40,430 | 1:42,713 | + 1,765 | |
| 11 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:41,100 | 1:40,726 | |||
| 12 | Kamui Kobayashi | Toyota | 1:41,035 | 1:40,777 | |||
| 13 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:40,808 | 1:40,983 | |||
| 14 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1:41,096 | 1:41,148 | |||
| 15 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:41,503 | 1:41,689 | |||
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:41,667 | ||||
| 17 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:41,701 | ||||
| 18 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:41,863 | ||||
| 19 | Romain Grosjean | Renault | 1:41,950 | ||||
| 20 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari | 1:42,184 |
