Sebastian Vettel has gone in to the record books again, this time for getting 15 poles positions in a year, it really an amazing achievement from the young German driver. This time next year we could be looking at a triple world champion.
SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position: POLE POSITION
“It’s pretty special to get the record. Nigel obviously took three or four races less to achieve it, but nevertheless it’s been an incredible year for us and an incredible journey and it’s not yet over, we’ve got another chapter tomorrow and I’m very happy. It’s hard to believe. I didn’t feel that happy yesterday, but this morning I was much happier with the car and how it felt, it was much more to my liking and I was able to go from there and improve to get the pole. You know what you can do and the time you should be able to get ahead of the lap, but when you cross the line – you know if you have done it or not, without looking at the time. There wasn’t much left today and that gives extreme satisfaction – and it gets even better when the engineer comes on the radio and tells you you’ve done it.”
MARK WEBBER, Position: 2nd
“Qualifying was a good effort today from the whole team. It was very close with Sebastian, he did a great lap again, but there wasn’t much between us. It was a good session today and we know there’s going to be some weather coming in, which will mix things up a bit. That’s very good for the people at home watching on TV, but it means a few grey hairs for us sitting in the cockpit. I’m looking forward to the race, it’s a good challenge here and it would be great to finish the season with a good result.”
Jenson Button, Position 3rd
“At the moment, I am enjoying the moment,” he said.
“It’s my best qualifying here for the last six years and 10 places better than last year.
“So this is a good start to the weekend.”
With second place in the world championship looking fairly secure, Button said he would take a relaxed approach to the race, which sees only the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber starting ahead of him.
“Hopefully we can get these two [Red Bulls] tomorrow, but I think whatever happens it’s been a great season for us, just not quite good enough,” said Button.
“There are a few areas that we need to work on and hopefully we can end this reasonably good season with a high.”
He is confident Interlagos is the kind of track that will deliver plenty of action.
“I always love racing here,” said Button.
“It’s such a good circuit for racing and really fighting.
“Out of the last corner down into Turn 1 is very good for overtaking, and obviously we have the DRS out of Turn 3 now.
Lewis Hamilton, Position 4th
“All weekend I’ve been struggling to be in the top three,” he conceded.
“I’ve always struggled at this track in general with dialling the car into the circuit.
“It’s a racer’s circuit, but it’s tricky.
“I didn’t make any mistakes, but trying to find that time was quite difficult.”
With Jenson Button a couple of tenths ahead in third place, Lewis said he knew the McLaren was capable of doing the times.
“It’s a little bit disappointing really,” he rued.
“We’re still on the second row, but of course we’d have loved to have been quicker.
“I’m not too happy with my performance, in the sense that I wasn’t quick enough.
“I was a couple of tenths off Jenson so clearly the car could’ve been a little bit quicker and the Red Bulls were just massively quick today.
“It was a bit of a struggle in the car, I just struggled to pull any more time out of it.”
But he remained optimistic that a win was achievable, especially if it rains tomorrow.
“I’m disappointed it’s not pole position but it’s not the end of the world,” Hamilton said.
“I can still have a good fight from there and tomorrow it’s going to rain.
“It’s probably a good thing that it’s going to be raining because we’re not fast enough to win here at the moment.
“I’m still there in the fight, I just wasn’t quick enough today.
“Not the best performance I’ve had but it’s still a place we can challenge for a win from, so I’m still positive in that sense.”
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m11.918s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m12.099s + 0.181
3. Jenson Button McLaren 1m12.283s + 0.365
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m12.480s + 0.562
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m12.591s + 0.673
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m13.050s + 1.132
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m13.068s + 1.150
8. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m13.298s + 1.380
9. Bruno Senna Renault 1m13.761s + 1.843
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes
11. Paul di Resta Force India 1m13.584s + 1.138
12. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1m13.801s + 1.355
13. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m13.804s + 1.358
14. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m13.919s + 1.473
15. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m14.053s + 1.607
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m14.129s + 1.683
17. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m14.182s + 1.736
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m14.625s + 1.344
19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1m15.068s + 1.787
20. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1m15.358s + 2.077
21. Tonio Liuzzi HRT 1m16.631s + 3.350
22. Daniel Ricciardo HRT 1m16.890s + 3.609
23. Jerome D’Ambrosio Virgin 1m17.019s + 3.738
24. Timo Glock Virgin 1m17.060s + 3.779
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