Barrichello secures first pole in 5 years

F1 Grand Prix, GP Brazil, Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos

Rubens Barrichello has claimed his first pole position in 5 years after beating Mark Webber at the closing stages of the session by just 1 tenth of a second. On the changing track conditions, Adrian Sutil again proved his talent by securing third place on tomorrow's grid.

The first part of qualifying was dominated by heavy rain, resulting in several spins and off-track excursions by several drivers. Almost halfway through the session, Giancarlo Fisichella lost control of his Ferrari in turn 2, parking it in the middle of the track.

The event triggered a lengthy red flag, after which the session resumed in the same extremely wet conditions. Sebastian Vettel failed to get the timing right and was eliminated, along with both McLarens who ran dry weather setups.

During Q2 the session was again red flagged after Luizzi destroyed the rear end of his Force India by missing turn 1 and going off at high speed. As soon as the session restarted, it was obvious that the track was improving and drivers gradually switched to intermediate tyres.

Jenson Button for one didn't and failed to get through to Q3, a fairly big mistake to make in the light of the championship - despite Vettel being even further back on the grid.

Q3 proved a tense battle on a drying track, allowing drivers to each time improve on their previous laptime. In the end it was home driver Rubens Barrichello who proved the fastest. The Brazilian must look forward to tomorrow's race in which he might seriously put himself in close contention for the championship title.