Sebastian Vettel has set a new F1 record by achieving 15 pole positions in a single season. The Champion will share the Brazilian Grand Prix front row with Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, with the McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton next up. Fernando Alonso starts fifth from the leading Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.
Thunderstorms continue to be forecast for Sunday’s season-ending race at Interlagos, although the rain which threatened qualifying failed to arrive at the track. It was Heikki Kovalainen who led the field out of the pit lane, soon going on to out-qualify Team Lotus team-mate Jarno Trulli. Just ahead and in 18th, the Williams of Pastor Maldonado was unable to jump ahead of the sister car driven by Rubens Barrichello. A disastrous session for Virgin leaves Jérôme d’Ambrosio and Timo Glock on the back of the grid for tomorrow’s 71-lap race.
As in the first phase of the hour, Q2 saw all cars rush out onto the track with the fear that showers could soon affect proceedings. Vettel warned rivals of his rapid pace by leading the way, as Rosberg set a highly impressive effort to beat team-mate Michael Schumacher by a full second. Toro Rosso suffered a session of struggles, with Jaime Alguersuari left to tumble down the order as he sat in his garage and Sébastien Buemi reporting a ‘loss of power’ following a hydraulics leak in final practice.
Rubens Barrichello was delighted to manage 12th place, describing his effort as ‘like pole position’ on what could be his final Formula 1 weekend. Compatriots Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna progressed to Q3, leaving Scotland’s Paul di Resta out of the top ten for the first time this weekend. Sauber were the slowest of the Q2 runners, managing only 16th and 17th places.
With the rain threat seemingly gone by the time the shootout arrived, local crowds were more than excited by the fact that Bruno Senna was through to Q3 in the 20th anniversary year of late uncle and triple title winner Ayrton’s first of two São Paulo wins. However, any chance for anybody other than Vettel was already seemingly gone thanks to his first lap time of 1:12.268, which was then itself destroyed by a stunning 1:11.918 effort.
Button grabbed second spot, only for Webber to cement an ideal result for World Champions Red Bull ahead of an assault on the 2011 runner-up prize tomorrow. With the title winners and McLarens locking out the first pair of rows, Alonso was again left to pick up the pieces in fifth as Rosberg confirmed a ‘best of the rest’ sixth.
The top ten is completed by Massa, consistent Adrian Sutil, Senna and Michael Schumacher, who set no lap time in Q3 to help save tyres.
As well as beating Mansell’s record, Sebastian Vettel has now recorded 30 Formula 1 pole positions, moving ahead of five-time World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio; and with the thunderstorm risk still ever-present, a dramatic season finale is promised on Sunday.
- Post-qualifying feelings from pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel
The season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix begins at 2pm local time (GMT -2) on Sunday and can also be tracked via the GPUpdate.net live report
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:11.918 | 17 |
| 2. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:12.099 | 16 |
| 3. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:12.283 | 18 |
| 4. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:12.480 | 22 |
| 5. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:12.591 | 22 |
| 6. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:13.050 | 21 |
| 7. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:13.068 | 18 |
| 8. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:13.298 | 23 |
| 9. | B. Senna | Lotus Renault | 01:13.761 | 29 |
| 10. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | no time | 18 |
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| Sebastian Vettel | |||
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| More Sebastian Vettel photos | |||
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