Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg took his tenth pole position of the season at the Brazilian Grand Prix from teammate and F1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton by just 0.033 seconds as he sets to reduce the 24 points gap deficit in the drivers standings.
Rosberg's pole position time of 1:10.023 was over six tenths of a second faster than the pole position time set by Rubens Barrichello in a 3.0-litre, V-10 engined Ferrari F2004 in the 2004 Brazilian GP. While the resurfacing of the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, slick tyres and DRS played a factor in the speed of the W05 Hybrid, the improvement was a testament to the constant development carried out in F1 regardless of countless regulation changes.
The fastest of the new 1.6-litre, turbocharged, V-6 hybrid cars exceeded 330 kmph in the speed trap with 342.9 kmph being the fastest speed that was recorded.
A CLEAN SWEEP FOR ROSBERG
After completing a clean sweep all three preceding practice sessions, Rosberg put himself on provisional pole after the first run in Q3, putting Lewis Hamilton - regarded by many as the fastest F1 driver on a single lap - under pressure. And while the Brit managed to improve on his flying lap, Rosberg went even faster, thus securing pole position.
With this result, he now secured the DHL Pole Position trophy - a newly introduced award to acclaim drivers for their performance on Saturdays. Unlike many racing series - as well as compared to when the first world championship was held in 1950 - no additional points are awarded in F1 for putting your car on pole position.
MASSA THE HOME HERO
Home hero Felipe Massa got the Brazilian fans on their feet after putting his Williams in third place with a laptime of 1:10.247 - just over two tenths down on Rosberg’s pole time of 1:10.023. He could have possibly upset the Mercedes pair, but had to back off after making mistake in the middle sector.
Valtteri Bottas secured an all Williams second row with the fourth fastest time on board.
In Jenson Button’s words, McLaren were ‘nowhere’ on Friday but when it mattered, the team was very much in the mix with Magnussen seventh quickest and Button himself clocking the fifth fastest time of the day.
McLaren’s gains came at the expense of Red Bull with former four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel only sixth fastest and Ricciardo qualifying three places behind him in ninth.
Ferraris weren’t strong either with former F1 champions Alonso and Raikkonen eighth and tenth fastest at Interlagos.
MIXED DAY FOR FORCE INDIA
Nico Hulkenberg felt that he got the maximum out of the car after qualifying in 11th - in between the Saubers of Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil.
That couldn’t be said of Sergio Perez who missed the entire Friday running after tester Daniel Juncadella crashed his car heavily in FP1. The Mexican qualified in 17th place but will drop to 18th after taking into account a seven place grid penalty for colliding with Adrian Sutil’s Sauber in Austin. Penalties for collisions aren’t carried forward to the next race meaning Perez will start the double points Abu Dhabi finale from the same place he qualifies in.
F1 BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING - TOP 10
1) Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:10.023
2) Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:10.056 +0.033
3) Felipe Massa Williams 1:10.247 +0.244
4) Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:10.305 +0.282
5) Jenson Button McLaren 1:10.930 +0.907
6) Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:10.938 +0.915
7) Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:10.969 +0.946
8) Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:10.977 +0.954
9) Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:11.075 +1.052
10) Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:11.099 +1.076
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