The penultimate qualifying session in Formula 1 took place in Interlagos, Brazil. To make it even more interesting, the weather decided to throw up some rain to cause a lot of cars to lose control. But fortunately there were no major crashes just a few spins so that everyone could complete qualifying. Q1 saw Senna finish 24th and Force India's Adrian Sutil finished 18th but will start 23rd tomorrow due a five grid place penalty. This meant that Senna's Hispania partner Chris Klien will start 22nd tomorrow and Lucas Di Grassi of Virgin 21st.. The two Lotus cars again finished consecutively with Trulli beating Kovalainen to 19th spot. The final driver to exit at Q1 was unsurprisingly Di Grassi's Virgin team mate Timo Glock. Current Championship leader Alonso was fastest in Q1 as he set the mind games off and running.
Q2 saw Buemi finish 15th but he also suffers a five place grid penalty and therefore starts 18th tomorrow, pushing Glock up. Force India's qualifying didn't improve as Liuzzi will start 16th behind Sauber's Heidfeld. Beumi's Toro Rosso team mate Alguersuari finished 14th as the shock eliminations will start in front of him. First was Mercedes' Rosberg in 13th then in form Sauber driver Kobayashi. However the big name to fall was Jenson Button as his title hopes are now certainly over, especially with a 11th place start. Webber overtook Alonso as being the fastest for Q2.
All four contenders for the Championship were in contention for pole position, with all four even leading qualifying at some point in Q3. Renault enjoyed both their drivers being in Q3 and Petrov finished 10th. Alonso's team mate Massa would have been needed as Alonso's rear-gunner in tomorrow's race to keep him ahead of the Championship, but Massa could only qualify ninth. Michale Schumacher returns to Interlagos with an eighth place start behind the Renault driver Robert Kubica, Rubens Barrichello finished just behind the contenders in sixth. Leader Alonso finished behind his Championship rivals and starts fifth tomorrow where he'll see Hamilton and Webber on the grid in front of him, in fourth and third respectively. The final contender Vettel is on the front grid but Red Bull failed to get pole. That accolade was surprisingly won by Williams' Nico Hulkenberg, Brazil was where Williams last won a Grand Prix in the form of Juan Pablo Montoya and it'd be nice to Hulkenberg possibly get a podium finish.
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