Nico Rosberg scored his tenth pole of the Formula 1 season at Interlagos and takes the honour of being the first driver to win the sport’s pole position trophy.
The Mercedes driver edged out his team-mate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton by just 33 thousandths of a second.
It was a frantic qualifying session for that P1 spot, with Rosberg having the advantage by just 29 thousandths on their first runs in the top ten shootout.
Hamilton then improved his lap time on his second and final run, briefly knocking Rosberg off the number one spot.
But Rosberg, behind him on track, then bagged his 14th career pole position a few seconds later.
Williams did look a potential threat for pole position, but after setting the third and fourth quickest times on their first runs, Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas failed to improve at the end.
Jenson Button managed a great turnaround for McLaren following a tricky practice session with fifth on the grid ahead of defending world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Button secured that place with his first qualifying run, but did not improve on his second attempt.
This allowed Vettel to potentially challenge him, but the Red Bull Racing driver ended up eight thousandths of a second behind despite finding almost half a second on his second run.
Kevin Magnussen was seventh, just ahead of Fernando Alonso, who completed only one run in Q3 for Ferrari.
Daniel Ricciardo had a lacklustre – by his standards – qualifying and will start ninth, just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.
Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez was bumped out of a top ten slot in the final seconds of Q2 when Ricciardo posted his sole flying lap, ending up P11.
He was almost four tenths faster than Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, who had a lock-up into the Senna S on his best lap, with Adrian Sutil P13 and last of those to run in Q2.
Daniil Kvyat was classified P14 and did not run at all in Q2.
This is because he has to serve a grid penalty, carried over from Austin where he used his tenth internal combustion engine of the season but did not qualify well enough to serve his complete ten-place drop.
Romain Grosjean narrowly missed out on a place in Q2 for Lotus, falling a tenth of a second short of beating Sutil to the all-important P14.
Three thousandths of a second behind was Jean-Eric Vergne, who complained variously of understeer and oversteer during Q1.
But his struggles were largely a consequence of the fact he could only complete five laps during practice after handing his car over to Max Verstappen in FP1 and then suffering an ERS problem in the FP2.
Sergio Perez was a quarter of a tenth further back after also suffering a dismal practice during which he was unable to take to the track following reserve driver Daniel Juncadella’s FP1 crash.
He has to serve a seven-place grid penalty for wiping out Sutil on the opening lap of last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, meaning he will drop behind slowest qualifier Pastor Maldonado.
Qualifying times, Brazilian Grand Prix:
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m10.023s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m10.056s
3 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m10.247s
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m10.305s
5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m10.930s
6 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m10.938s
7 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m10.969s
8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m10.977s
9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m11.075s
10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m11.099s
11 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m11.591s
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m11.976s
13 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m12.099s
14 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m12.037s
15 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m12.040s
16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m12.233s
17 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault No time
18 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m12.076s
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg mentioned that he will avoid the errors made at last weekend’s US Grand Prix after scoring pole position at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the story.
Nico Rosberg says he cannot take much satisfaction from his Brazilian Grand Prix weekend until he converts his practice and qualifying dominance into the race win he missed in America.
A week after his US GP defeat, Rosberg has been quickest in every session in Brazil so far, beating 2014 Formula 1 title rival and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole by 0.033 seconds after topping all three qualifying segments.
But having failed to convert his pace into victory last weekend at Austin, Rosberg was not getting carried away after qualifying.
“It’s a perfect job only if it works out tomorrow,” he said.
“Up to now it has been going well and I’m in the best place to be tomorrow, but of course I need to make it happen in the race, unlike Austin.”
Rosberg believes he has addressed the weakness that cost him the win last Sunday.
“I understand what I need to improve from Austin,” he said.
“I didn’t find my rhythm in the race, I understand that, I’m confident I can improve that for tomorrow.
“It’s a different situation, we even did a long run this morning in the same conditions we expect tomorrow.”
Hamilton, who leads the championship by 24 points, said he made minor errors on his best lap but he had enjoyed the battle.
“It was great fun,” said the Briton after holding provisional pole for a few seconds prior to Rosberg finishing his last lap.
“Nico did a great lap and I lost a bit of time in Turn 10 [Bico de Pato] and a tiny bit in Turn 1 [Senna S].
“It was great, having to keep going out and keep fighting, and it should always be that close.”
After struggling all season, Kimi Raikkonen has commented that he much happier with Ferrari despite qualifying in tenth position at Interlagos. Autosport.com has the details.
Kimi Raikkonen says he is much happier with the handling of his Ferrari Formula 1 car so far during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, despite only qualifying 10th.
The Finn has struggled for much of the season with the F14 T, particularly with understeer, and last weekend after the US GP he said he hated the situation he was in with the car.
However, on Saturday at Interlagos, Raikkonen told reporters in the paddock that he was much happier.
“It’s been pleasant to drive the car all weekend,” said the 2007 world champion. “That’s a nice thing.
“Obviously to finish 10th is a different story but definitely we have been making some progress on that side.
“This weekend the car has been behaving pretty nicely. It’s been a better feeling, it’s a good point.”
Raikkonen said that the race on Sunday would give conclusive answers on if Ferrari has properly solved his difficulties.
“We have to see how it is because we didn’t do long runs yesterday,” he said, referring to the red flags in free practice that disrupted a lot of teams’ programmes.
“But it’s been going in the right direction. We had some tyre wear yesterday but I think everyone did with such a hot circuit.”
The Finn added that at times he has ended up sacrificing performance in races because he believes it is more important to work through his problems rather than purely focus on results.
“We tried many things this year and it hasn’t worked out,” he said. “Probably that has cost us some points.
“But I want to try things and find out. It’s been such a difficult year that I’d rather try things.
“If it doesn’t work out then we pay a price for it and that’s fine.”
Raikkonen also played down the different rear suspension set-up he is running compared to team-mate Fernando Alonso this weekend.
“They’re not really new parts, just different things we’ve been running,” he said.
“What we have available is not a new design, it’s just trying to run the car differently.
“It’s been pretty good all weekend, and even if we are only 10th there were not really any major issues.”
Alonso caused a stir during qualifying when an angry radio message from the Spaniard was played during Q1, but the two-time world champion played the matter down afterwards.
“In Q1 we were not ready to do the laps,” said Alonso.
“My first lap was a recharging lap because I had no battery going out of the garage.
“We were not prepared for Q1 – we were not ready for that lap. But no big thing.
“Obviously when it goes on television, it becomes a big thing.
“But there are a hundred of these things that don’t go on television, and it’s normal.”
McLaren’s Jenson Button has admitted that the team have rescued a ‘disaster’ after a frustrating practice session. Autosport.com has the details.
Jenson Button credited his McLaren Formula 1 team with turning around “a disaster” of a weekend after he qualified fifth for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The 2009 world champion complained that the team was “nowhere” after free practice on Friday, but the MP4-29 was transformed on Saturday, allowing Button to slot in behind the dominant Mercedes and Williams cars in qualifying.
“Yesterday was a disaster,” Button told reporters after qualifying at Interlagos.
“We knew what the issue was but it was too late to change it back so we had to wait until this morning to make set-up changes.
“I think we’ve done a very good job of developing the set-up over today and through qualifying.
“I’m happy with P5 – I don’t think we could have done anymore. Fair play to the team.”
Button hinted on Friday that he hoped McLaren could fix its difficulties by reverting to a previous set-up, and he explained on Saturday that had proved to be the case.
“We had something on the car that was to help some issues that we’ve had,” he said.
“We’ve had a vibration for a little while and were just trying to get rid of it.
“It helped that but the car was pretty bad to drive. It destroyed the balance.
“I said ‘do we want to go back?’ and we did – and today the car has been working much better.
“I didn’t think we would be fifth on the grid and I don’t think anyone in the team did. We did a good job.”
Despite the turnaround in fortunes putting him in the mix with the leaders, Button admitted that he expects to be focused on the cars behind him rather than those ahead during the race.
“The first four cars are way too quick for us so if we can stay fifth or stay close to the cars in front and see them at the end of the race that will be a nice finish,” he said.
“We’ll see how it plays out tomorrow but it’s going to be a good battle from me back to 10th.
“It’s so close in times [behind] and hopefully we can put on a great show.
“The aim is to try and keep the pack behind and stay as close to the cars in front in case there is a bit of action.
“I think that the Williams might be quick in the race so that could mix it up at the front and we want to be ready to pounce if something happens.”
The Williams Formula 1 team says a fuel pressure problem compromised Felipe Massa’s final run in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Massa was only eight hundredths of a second shy of Interlagos pole man Nico Rosberg after their first Q3 runs, but the Williams racer aborted his final effort after encountering Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren in the second sector.
Williams performance chief Rob Smedley said a fuel pressure problem delayed Massa’s release from the pits for that final run, which meant he ran into traffic.
“We couldn’t get fuel pressure in the car. We got it started up, but as we dropped it off the jacks we lost fuel pressure and the engine cut out,” Smedley explained.
“We then had to put a bit more fuel in to make pressure.
“It’s just an unfortunate set of circumstances with the very low fuel levels we run here.
“The fuel consumption around here is a lot lower than other tracks, therefore when you put one lap of fuel in you put in very little fuel in the main tank and it’s just difficult to pick it up sometimes.”
Mercedes driver Rosberg improved to a 1m10.023s best on his final run, beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole by 0.033 seconds.
Massa’s combined ideal sector times would still have put him just over a tenth shy of pole, and Smedley reckoned the Mercedes were out of reach even if Massa had not encountered traffic.
“We didn’t get that last run in, which was a little bit disappointing, but I don’t know whether either car could have done better than they did,” Smedley added.
“I asked Felipe afterwards, he said there’s maybe a tenth in the car.
“If he’d got another good lap in that would have still kept us in the same position.”
Massa’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas ended up fourth fastest, after also aborting his final run in Q3.
The Finn explained that three front brake lock-ups during his flying lap meant there was no chance of improving on his best time.
“In Turn 1, Turn 4 and Turn 8 I had a bit of a lock-up and ran a bit wide,” Bottas explained.
“By the time I got to Turn 9 I saw the time delta was so much back to my best lap it was better to abort it.
“I was trying to get a bit more front grip out of the car but I think there was not much more in it.”
Although Williams is only a couple of tenths adrift of Mercedes on pace, Bottas does not expect to be able to challenge Rosberg and Hamilton in tomorrow’s race.
“I think that’s going to be difficult,” he said. “Normally they have more of an edge in the races than they have in qualifying.
“But we need to try and be as close to them as possible.”
Source: Autosport.com