Nico Hulkenberg took Williams’ first pole position in five years with a remarkable lap on a drying Interlagos circuit during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The German rookie was in a different class and beat both Red Bulls to the top spot, with Sebastian Vettel his closest rival over a second behind. Mark Webber will line up third for Sunday’s race, ahead of championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
The margin between Hulkenberg and Vettel was an incredible 1.049 seconds, with the four championship rivals behind separated by less than half a second behind. Hulkenberg’s team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who initiated the swap to slick tyres, was sixth fastest ahead of Robert Kubica in seventh.
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Formula 1: Brazilian Grand Prix - Race Line-Up
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in First Practice at Interlagos
Formula 1: Brazilian Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in Second Practice at Interlagos
Formula 1: Brazilian Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Formula 1: Robert Kubica Fastest in Final Practice at Interlagos
Formula 1: Brazilian Grand Prix - Final Practice Results
F1 Standings Ahead of Brazilian Grand Prix
Michael Schumacher looked fast on the intermediates but couldn’t hook up a lap in the dry and ended up eighth. Felipe Massa, who struggled to make the cut for Q3, was ninth ahead of Vitaly Pertov, who put in a decent performance for 10th. ESPN F1
The rain held off for Q2, in which Webber was fastest in 1m 18.516s as a tremendous scrap finally weeded out McLaren’s Jenson Button on 1m 19.288s as Massa’s 1m 19.200s in the final seconds bumped the reigning champion. Behind the McLaren, BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was 12th on 1m 19.385s from Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes on 1m 19.486s, Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rossos on 1m 19.581s and 1m 19.847s apiece, Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW Sauber on 1m 19.899s and Tonio Liuzzi in 1m 20.357s for Force India.
Heavy rain was expected soon after the start of Q1, so the session was a major league shoot-out as everyone went for times on the intermediate Bridgestones while light rain fell. As Alonso set the pace with 1m 18.987s from Webber and Vettel (1m 19.025s and 1m 19.160s), Adrian Sutil failed to beat Force India team mate Tonio Liuzzi and thus had to settle for 18th on 1m 20.830s to the Italian’s 1m 20.592s.
Joining the German among the first fallers were Timo Glock, who was the fastest of the new team runners for Virgin on 1m 22.130s, then the Lotus duo of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen (1m 22.250s and 1m 22.378s) and Lucas di Grassi in the second Virgin on 1m 22.810s. At the back, Christian Klien beat HRT team mate Bruno Senna, 1m 23.083s to 1m 23.796s after the Brazilian spun. Formula 1
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