Sebastian Vettel has re-set the record books yet again, scoring his 15th pole position for the season.
The German’s pole lap at Interlagos this morning (Australian time) has moved him ahead of Nigel Mansell’s 1992 record of 14 poles.
The world champion took his Red Bull around in a superb 1m11.918s, beating team-mate Mark Webber by just under 0.2s.
Behind the Red Bull pair is the McLarens, with Jenson Button taking third ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will start the Brazilian Grand Prix in fifth while Nico Rosberg upset the teams order by placing his Mercedes sixth on the grid, fractions ahead of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari.
Rounding out the top 10 was Adrian Sutil (Force India), Bruno Senna (Renault) and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), who did not record a time in the final qualifying session.
Just outside the top 10 was Force India’s Paul di Resta, who made two unsuccessful attempts in Q2 to better 1m13.584s. The Scot found himself 11th after a late improvement from Schumacher lifted the German veteran to 10th.
Local hero Rubens Barrichello did a strong job for 12th in what could be his last Grand Prix, ahead of the Toro Rosso twins of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.
Hispania Racing’s Tonio Liuzzi spent a lot of the session in the pits, but outpaced Australian team-mate Daniel Ricciardo for 21st place.
Qualifying results, Interlagos
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:13.664 | 1:12.446 | 1:11.918 | 17 |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:13.467 | 1:12.658 | 1:12.099 | 16 |
| 3 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:13.281 | 1:12.820 | 1:12.283 | 18 |
| 4 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:13.361 | 1:12.811 | 1:12.480 | 22 |
| 5 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:13.969 | 1:12.870 | 1:12.591 | 22 |
| 6 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:14.083 | 1:12.569 | 1:13.050 | 21 |
| 7 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:14.269 | 1:13.291 | 1:13.068 | 18 |
| 8 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:13.480 | 1:13.261 | 1:13.298 | 23 |
| 9 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:14.453 | 1:13.300 | 1:13.761 | 20 |
| 10 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:13.694 | 1:13.571 | No time | 18 |
| 11 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:13.733 | 1:13.584 | 17 | |
| 12 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:14.117 | 1:13.801 | 17 | |
| 13 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:14.225 | 1:13.804 | 18 | |
| 14 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:14.500 | 1:13.919 | 22 | |
| 15 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:13.859 | 1:14.053 | 16 | |
| 16 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:14.571 | 1:14.129 | 18 | |
| 17 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:14.430 | 1:14.182 | 21 | |
| 18 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:14.625 | 11 | ||
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:15.068 | 11 | ||
| 20 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:15.358 | 14 | ||
| 21 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1:16.631 | 8 | ||
| 22 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1:16.890 | 9 | ||
| 23 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:17.019 | 10 | ||
| 24 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:17.060 | 10 |
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