Kimi Raikkonen’s troubled weekend continued on Saturday when he was relegated to the back of the grid for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Finn, who had finished fifth fastest in qualifying, was excluded from the timesheets after his Lotus failed a technical test.
Raikkonen had been at the centre of controversy when he threatened to boycott the race and the subsequent US and Brazil GPs after claiming he had not been paid this year. He is reportedly owed more than 15 million euros ($A21.7 million).
The Ferrari-bound Finn’s car was judged not to conform to the sport’s technical regulations after a ‘front floor deflection’ test, a setback that kept him at the centre of a whirlpool of speculation at the Yas Marina Circuit.
After a lengthy meeting with team representatives, the race stewards said they did not accept the Lotus explanation that the floor had been broken due to impact with the kerbs at the spectacular state-of-the-art track.
Raikkonen’s times in qualifying were excluded.
Raikkonen and Lotus were among the closest challengers to champions Red Bull who dominated qualifying earlier on Saturday with Australian Mark Webber taking pole ahead of teammate and newly crowned quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Webber grabbed the 13th pole position of his career on Saturday when he clocked the fastest lap in a tense qualifying session.
The 37-year-old, who retires from Formula One at the end of the season, recorded 1min 39.957sec to edge out Vettel. Lewis Hamilton spun his Mercedes in the final part of his lap.
Webber, who will start from the front of the grid for only the second time this season, equalled the Australian record of 13 poles set by Alan Jones, who was celebrating his 67th birthday on Saturday.
“Fantastic guys – thank you for a fantastic job,” said Webber on the Red Bull team radio.
“This weekend has gone pretty smoothly,” he added later.
“Not the smoothest path to the start of Q2 or Q1, we were not electric, but we changed the car quite a bit and I got more and more comfortable as the session went on.
“It made me more comfortable in the final sector, where Seb has been quick, so I was able to match him there and stay where I had been quick already.”
Vettel said it was a great result for the team.
“Mark did a very good lap so congratulations to him. I should have done a bit better, but I don’t know if it would have been enough. He did a great job, no mistakes. It’s a great result for the team and we should have a strong race tomorrow.”
Hamilton ended up fourth and will start alongside Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who was third fastest.
