Hulkenberg on Brazilian pole !

Nico Hulkenberg took a maiden and sensational pole on Saturday afternoon on a drying Interlagos track.

The young German made the most of the ever improving conditions to upset the championship contenders and offer the Williams team its first pole position since 2005.

After a thrilling final scrap, Sebastian Vettel clinched a front row start alongside his fellow German driver.

Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton will line up on the second row while the Championship leader, Fernando Alonso, will share the third row with Rubens Barrichello.

Let’s have a look at how the session panned out :

Q1

The track was wet from an earlier shower as the light went green for the first segment of qualifying.

With rain expected to hit at some point, the whole field rushed out of the pitlane. Everybody was obviously eager to bank a time and there was a bit of traffic as the 24 cars were lapping round the Interlagos circuit.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber quickly made their way up to the front, with laps completed in less than 1’20. Minutes later, Fernando Alonso went slightly faster and moved in the lead thanks to a 1’19’’842.

Vettel responded with a 1’19’’160 but his teammate Mark Webber made the most of the improving conditions to set a 1’19’’025 and demoted him to 2nd. Both of them then pitted and watched Sutil and Liuzzi fighting it out for 17th.

The Italian eventually came out on top and made his way through to Q2 while his teammate was eliminated alongside the new teams’ drivers.

Meanwhile, Alonso found more pace in the very last minutes of the session and pipped the Red Bulls for top spot.

Q2

Light rain was falling as the track re-opened and the 17 drivers remaining didn’t wait long before leaving the pits.

The lap times plummeted as the conditions improved and the Red Bull drivers resumed their battle at the front. They faced a fierce competition from Renault’s Robert Kubica but were back in the commanding positions with just over six minutes remaining.

As Webber and Vettel set the pace at the front, Jenson Button and Felipe Massa found themselves in the dropzone. The Brazilian narrowly made it through, while the McLaren driver missed the cut by 88 hundredths of a second.

Eliminated alongside him were Kobayashi, Rosberg, Alguersuari, Buemi, Heidfeld and Liuzzi.

Webber was fastest ahead of Vettel and Kubica.

Q3

The final shootout took place on a drying track and the lap times significantly improved.

After a first run on intermediate tyres, the ten drivers came in to take on soft tyres. At this point, Hamilton was leading from Schumacher and Vettel.

In those treacherous conditions, there were a couple of off-track excursions, most notable from Kubica and Webber.

Nico Hulkenberg stirred a surprise when he popped up at the front with just a minute remaining. Hamilton subsequently improved but the Williams driver was able to further up the pace and take his maiden pole position!

Vettel took 2nd in front of his teammate Webber. Hamilton was fourth with Alonso fifth.