Finn Heikki Kovalainen is expected to drop five places on the starting grid for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after his McLaren Mercedes team said they needed to change his gearbox following qualifying.

Kovalainen, who qualified 13th, is likely to be moved to 18th place when the grid is formalised and made official on Sunday.

The McLaren driver, who was fastest in Friday practice, had to stop out on the track in qualifying during Q2.

He said: "What a disappointing outcome to my qualifying. I got stuck in second gear during Q2 and that was it.

"I already had minor problems with the gearbox yesterday when it jumped out of gear, so it's frustrating when you have a car you can easily take into Q3.

"But I'm looking at the positives: the balance of my car has been good throughout the entire weekend, and it's been great to drive on this fantastic circuit.

"You can absolutely guarantee I'll be giving it my all in the race tomorrow and I'll be fighting from the first lap to the very last."

His McLaren team-mate Briton Lewis Hamilton took pole position with a commanding performance.