Sebastian Vettel takes the final pole of 2011

Record Breaker Vettel Makes it 15

Sebastian Vettel put in a stunning lap time to claim his record-breaking 15^th pole position, this season.

Vettel was the only driver to complete the circuit in under 1minute 12seconds, with Mark Webber making it an all Red Bull front row. Vettel has re-written the record books this season and this breaks Nigel Mansell’s 19 –year record, who claimed 14 pole positions in 1992. Webber came close to spoiling the party, but came short by just over one tenth of a second.

Jenson Button was the nearest to the Red Bulls, as he and Lewis Hamilton made it an all McLaren second row. This is Button’s highest grid position at Interlagos, after failing to qualify inside the top-ten in all of his previous attempts. Hamilton was a little further behind Button than he would have liked, but his passing record, at this track, should help him out. Despite winning both of their titles at this track, Button and Hamilton have never won around Interlagos.

Fernando Alonso found himself in his usual position, after he slotted behind the Mclarens and Red Bulls, in p5. Felipe Massa couldn’t get near him and only qualified a half a second down, on his teammate. The Brazilian was surpassed by Nico Rosberg who, had a very good session and, beat Michael Schumacher, who starts in 10^th. Schumacher didn’t set a time in Q3, but the elder statesman found himself a second down on Rosberg in Q2.

The two Force Indias didn’t look comfortable and used more soft tyres than they would have liked to, to get to the final session. Unfortunately Paul Di Resta fell short and could only manage 11^th, while Adrian Sutil gave Vijay Mallya something to think about in 8^th.

Clearly buoyed on by his home crowd, Bruno Senna put on an impressive show in to 9^th. The Brazilian hasn’t had much time around this circuit, learning his trade in Europe, but he certainly looked at home on it and beat Vitaly Petrov, who had to settle for 15^th. The final homeboy Rubens Barrichello wrung everything out of his car and put himself in to 12^th, within reach of points on Sunday.

Posted by Sadhbh O'Shea - Follow her on twitter @SadhbhOS.

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