C’est Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) qui a signé la position de tête du Grand Prix d’Abou Dhabi. Mark Webber (Red Bull) et Sebastian Vettel (Red Bul) ont fait respectivement le 2e et 3e temps de la qualification. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) a réussi le 4e temps. Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) a devancé Jenson Button (McLaren) et Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) pour prendre la 5e place. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) est 8e.
| Pos | No | Pilote | Équipe | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Tours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:41.497 | 1:40.901 | 1:40.630 | 15 |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:41.933 | 1:41.277 | 1:40.978 | 17 |
| 3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:42.160 | 1:41.511 | 1:41.073 | 16 |
| 4 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:41.981 | 1:41.907 | 1:41.226 | 22 |
| 5 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:42.222 | 1:41.532 | 1:41.260 | 20 |
| 6 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:42.342 | 1:41.873 | 1:41.290 | 20 |
| 7 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:41.939 | 1:41.514 | 1:41.582 | 17 |
| 8 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:41.926 | 1:41.698 | 1:41.603 | 17 |
| 9 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:41.974 | 1:41.846 | 1:41.723 | 17 |
| 10 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:42.046 | 1:41.620 | 1:41.778 | 24 |
| 11 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:42.579 | 1:42.019 | 16 | |
| 12 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:42.624 | 1:42.084 | 17 | |
| 13 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:42.572 | 1:42.218 | 16 | |
| 14 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:42.735 | 1:42.289 | 14 | |
| 15 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:43.298 | 1:42.330 | 18 | |
| 16 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:43.582 | 1:42.606 | 17 | |
| 17 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:43.280 | 1:42.765 | 14 | |
| 18 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:44.058 | 9 | ||
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:44.956 | 11 | ||
| 20 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:45.089 | 10 | ||
| 21 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:45.151 | 11 | ||
| 22 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:45.426 | 9 | ||
| 23 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:45.766 | 8 | ||
| 24 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:46.382 | 9 | ||
| Q1 107% Time | 1:48.601 |