In a thrilling final qualifying session of the season in Brazil, Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position ahead of teammate Jenson Button to secure a McLaren front-row lock out.
Hamilton’s last minute effort of 1:12.458 put him 1 tenth ahead of his teammate, followed by the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel who qualified crucially ahead of tital rival Fernando Alonso.
Alonso didn’t have the pace throughout the session and had to settle for eighth place on tomorrow’s grid, one row behind teammate Felipe Massa, and alongside Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg.
Nico Rosberg put in just one lap at the start of Q3 and crawled back into the pits; he starts tenth.
Who will be crowned triple world champion? The answer’s at the end of tomorrow’s race.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m12.458s 2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m12.513s + 0.055 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m12.581s + 0.123 4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m12.760s + 0.302 5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m12.987s + 0.529 6. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m13.174s + 0.716 7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m13.206s + 0.748 8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m13.253s + 0.795 9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m13.298s + 0.840 10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m13.489s + 1.031 Q2 cut-off time: 1m14.048s 11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m14.121s + 0.912 12. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m14.219s + 1.010 13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m14.234s + 1.025 14. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m14.334s + 1.125 15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m14.380s + 1.171 16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m14.574s + 1.365 17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m14.619s + 1.410 Q1 cut-off time: 1m16.744s 18. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m16.967s + 1.892 19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m17.073s + 1.998 20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m17.086s + 2.011 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m17.508s + 2.433 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m18.104s + 3.029 23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m19.576s + 4.501 24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m19.699s + 4.624