A fabulous qualifying session in Brazil on Saturday saw a young driver take his first Formula 1 pole in career. Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg could not believe it when he saw his name on top of the provisional grid. It was a first pole since 2005 for the team.
With Sebastian Vettel in third position, Mark Webber breaks the all German podium in Brazil. Webber was happy of the result, despite the difficult conditions on track Saturday. "Nico was better than all of us today," said fellow front row sitter Sebastian Vettel, and Mark Webber agreed that Hulkenberg's performance "made the rest of us look average". The least we can say is that the track conditions were changing in Interlagos! Teams were expecting rain within the first five minutes of the session, forcing all drivers out as soon as the lights turned green. But rain never came and the track got drier and drier. Many drivers tried without success to put on slick tires during the first stunts. It really only made a difference in the last five minutes of the session when the best times were recorded. For the championship, no doubt that Webber will be smiling since Fernando Alonso, the new leader, qualified fifth, behind Lewis Hamilton - whose teammate did not participate in Q3, qualifying in 11th place only. Rubens Barrichello, sixth, was all smiles congratulating his young teammate in length for his first pole position. Robert Kubica, Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa and Vitaly Petrov completed the top-10. In terms of failure to perform we can speak of Nico Rosberg who, for once, did significantly worse than his star teammate with a 13th place qualifying. Adrian Sutil also makes it in there for Force India with an 18th place which became a 23rd after a five place penalty. Bruno Senna will not be remembered for his performance at home either. He qualified dead last. Let's hope for him he can raise the performance quite a notch tomorrow in front of friends and family. No major incident to report on Saturday as everyone made it back safely, despite off roads and slippery corners. Brazilian Grand Prix, Qualifying Results: 1. Row Nico Hulkenberg (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'14"470 - Q3 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB6-Renault) - 1'15"519 - Q3 2. Row Mark Webber (Red Bull RB6-Renault) - 1'15"637 - Q3 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 1'15"747 - Q3 3. Row Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F10) - 1'15"989 - Q3 Rubens Barrichello (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'16"203 - Q3 4. Row Robert Kubica (Renault R30) - 1'16"552 - Q3. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W01) - 1'16"925 - Q3 5. Row Felipe Massa (Ferrari F10) - 1'17"101 - Q3 Vitaly Petrov (Renault R30) - 1'17"656 - Q3 6. Row Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 1'19"288 - Q2 Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'19"385 - Q2 7. Row Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W01) - 1'19"486 - Q2 Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso STR5-Ferrari) - 1'19"581 - Q2 8. Row Nick Heidfeld (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'19"889 - Q2 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India VJM03-Mercedes) - 1'20"357 - Q2 9. Row Timo Glock (Virgin VR01-Cosworth) - 1'22"130 - Q1 Jarno Trulli (Lotus T127-Cosworth) - 1'22"250 - Q1 10. Row Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus T127-Cosworth) - 1'22"378 - Q1 Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso STR5-Ferrari) - 1'19"847 * - Q2 11. Row Lucas Di Grassi (Virgin VR01-Cosworth) - 1'22"810 - Q1 Christian Klien (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 1'23"083 - Q1 12. Row Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM03-Mercedes) - 1'20"830 * - Q1 Bruno Senna (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 1'23"796 - Q1 * Five place penalty **Unofficial Results**
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