Sebastian Vettel claimed his 15th pole position of the 2011 season at Interlagos, Brazil overtaking Nigel Mansell who scored 14 poles in a single season all the way back in 1992 during his world championship winning year in the Williams FW14B. Red Bull locked out the front row with Mark Webber setting a time 0.181 seconds slower than his world champion team-mate after a battle for second with McLaren’s Jenson Button. The Briton eventually having to settle for third on the grid ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton who will line up alongside Button on the second row.
Fernando Alonso will start from fifth place on the grid after briefly putting the Ferrari in third before getting bumped by the McLaren duo. Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg starts a place higher than his obligatory seventh in sixth alongside Alonso on the third row. The second Ferrari of Felipe Massa starts from seventh place alongside the Force India of Adrian Sutil in eighth place. Renault’s Bruno Senna qualified in ninth place ahead of the second Mercedes’ of Michael Schumacher who elected not to set a time, my feelings on teams/drivers not setting a time has been well documented, but here’s an overview, I believe teams and/or drivers should penalised with a five place grid drop and a hefty fine, that’ll make them think twice before sitting out Qualifying 3.
It was a good day for the Brazilian’s at their home grand prix, Felipe Massa in seventh place, Bruno Senna in ninth place and Rubens Barrichello in 12th place, after the last race in which Barrichello qualified in 24th (started 23rd due to Maldonado’s penalty), this is almost like qualifying on pole for the struggling Williams team and Barrichello. Speaking of Williams, it was mentioned by Martin Brundle during the BBC commentary that the deal to bring Kimi Raikkonen to Williams has fallen through. To be honest I am not disappointed in the slightest by this (at this time, unsubstantiated) news, I never wanted Raikkonen at Williams, I believe they need a driver that will help develop the car and push the team forward, Raikkonen is not that person in my opinion!