Rubens Barrichello boosted his chances of overhauling Brawn teammate Jenson Button and winning his first world title by claiming pole position for his home Brazilian Grand Prix in treacherous conditions on Saturday.
The 37-year-old will start a race from the front for the first time in five years on Sunday after championship leader Button—who he trails by 14 points with two races left—failed to make the final session of qualifying as rain drenched the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo. CNN International
Final preparations for this penultimate grand prix were seriously affected by violent thunderstorms throughout the day. Qualifying was just four minutes old when the red flag appeared because of conditions that were even worse than when the morning’s free practice session had been halted due to cars spinning off. When qualifying resumed, several drivers, including Lewis Hamilton and Vettel, were unprepared for the extreme wet conditions and failed to set fast enough times to move into the second part of qualifying [Q2]. Vettel’s Red Bull will start the 71-lap race two places ahead of Hamilton’s McLaren. guardian.co.uk
Barrichello lapped the 2.677- mile circuit in one minute, 19.576 seconds for his first Formula One pole since the 2004 Brazilian GP.
“I am very, very happy with the situation, and it is great to see that all the people stayed to see it because they went through a heavy period of rain,” said Barrichello, who delighted his home crowd after claiming his first pole in 88 grand prix.
Formula 1: Brazilian Grand Prix - Race Line-Up
“It was a great drive, and it may be that we have less fuel than them, but it is much better to start at the front and have your own race pace than be towards the middle of the pack,” Barrichello added.
Button was knocked out of the second qualifying stint (Q2), and had to settle for a disappointing 14th starting position. With more than 12 minutes remaining in Q2, miserable track conditions forced a 71-minute delay in the session.
“We had way too much understeer at the start of the session, and I couldn’t do anything with it,” Button said. “On lap three, the rear started going away and that was it. We made a mistake I think not putting [intermediate tires] on at the end.” MiamiHerald.com
Red Bull’s Mark Webber qualifies second ahead of Force India’s Adrian Sutil.
Toyota’s Jarno Trulli will start fourth after a lap of 1:20.097, and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen fifth after posting 1:20.168.
Defending champion Lewis Hamilton was another who struggled and failed to advance from the first session. He will start 18th in the 20-car grid.
In one of his attempts to improve his time, Hamilton ran off the track and just barely kept control as his car skidded across huge puddles on the infield grass, splashing water everywhere.
“Today was one of the worst qualifying sessions I can remember,” Hamilton said. The Associated Press
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