Vettel storms to record pole at Interlagos

Sebastian Vettel took a record fifteenth pole position of the season with a stunning lap of Interlagos.

The double World Champion broke the 1’12 barrier to get out of his rivals’ reach and make sure he would start the final race of the season from pole position. His teammate Mark Webber came within a tenth of a second of his fastest time and will line up alongside him on the front row.

Unsurprisingly the second row will be made up of the McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. Behind them, Alonso and Rosberg will share the third row of the grid. Massa and Sutil will line up on the fourth row while Senna and Schumacher – who didn’t complete a timed lap in Q3 – will form the fifth row.

How the session unfolded :

Q1

With such a short lap, traffic was expected to be an issue therefore most of the drivers quickly left the pits to bank in a lap time. There was also the threat of rain.

Hamilton fired the first salvo but the Red Bulls and his McLaren teammate Button were faster than him. At the other end of the field, the Williams drivers were locked in a fight for a place in Q2. A good effort from Trulli meant Buemi also had to earn his place in the next segment of qualifying.

Barrichello improved to 11th fastest to get out of the drop zone while Buemi – who could only complete three laps this morning - did just enough to make it through. On the other hand, Maldonado narrowly missed the cut and was eliminated alongside Kovalainen, Trulli, Liuzzi, Ricciardo, d’Ambrosio and Glock.

Button was fastest of all, ahead of Hamilton, Webber, Sutil and Vettel.

Q2

Once again, the drivers were quick to leave the pits…as rain was increasingly threatening.

Vettel set the benchmark, with Nico Rosberg a rather surprising 2nd. They both pitted after one lap, while their rivals stayed out for another timed lap. They couldn’t make an impression on the benchmark though.

Everyone pitted after the first assault. With just over five minutes remaining, soft tyres were bolted on the cars for the final scrap. Alguersuari set the ball rolling and was followed by his teammate Buemi.

The top six were pretty comfortable with their times and remained in the pits while the eleven other drivers battled it out for the four remaining spots in Q3. Alguersuari and Buemi were the first to give up. They were joined by di Resta – who missed the cut by only 0.013s – Barrichello, Petrov, Kobayashi and Pérez.

Q3

Nico Rosberg led the way as the light turned green. He was soon joined on track by Lewis Hamilton and it didn’t take long before Sebastian Vettel left the pits too. The gloves were off.

Vettel threw down the gauntlet and set the benchmark. He was two tenths of a second faster than his closest rival, his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber. Button was third fastest with Alonso fourth and Hamilton fifth.

As has often been the case this year, Sutil, Massa, Schumacher and Senna opted to save their tyres for the race and did only one run.

With just under two minutes remaining, all 10 drivers were on track.

For once, Vettel was first to start his final flyer. He put the hammer down with a storming lap under the 1’12 bracket. Webber came reasonably close but couldn’t beat his teammate to pole. Button was third ahead of Hamilton.