Hamilton secures crucial pole by 0.102s from Rosberg

40

Lewis Hamilton secured the 60th pole position of his career by beating team-mate Nico Rosberg in a close fight at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hamilton seized the initiative on the first runs in Q3, becoming the first driver to drop into the 1m10s this weekend as he led Rosberg, and then lowered his time on his final lap to a 1:10.736. Rosberg responded with the fastest first sector and a good middle sector, but eventually fell 0.102s short and will start from second place as he looks to win the drivers' championship at Interlagos.

AS IT HAPPENED: 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Rosberg will be champion with victory, but a Hamilton win will ensure the championship will be decided at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Kimi Raikkonen produced an impressive final lap to take third on the grid ahead of Max Verstappen. It was a very close fight between Ferrari and Red Bull, with Sebastian Vettel fight and Daniel Ricciardo sixth as all four cars were covered by 0.136s.

Romain Grosjean only completed one run in Q3 - and went early - but secured seventh place ahead of the Force India pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, with Fernando Alonso set to start from tenth place.

The home fans were left disappointed as Felipe Massa was a casualty of Q2, with the Brazilian dropping out in 13th place. Massa was joined by team-mate Valtteri Bottas who was bumped down to 11th by an impressive late lap from Grosjean, while Alonso delivered an excellent time to end the second session in seventh place.

Esteban Gutierrez split the two Williams drivers in twelfth, while Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz and Jolyon Palmer also dropped out in Q2.

Q1 started with a 70% risk of rain, leading to a number of cars looking to get in early laps in case conditions changed. The Mercedes pair set the pace immediately, with Hamilton benefitting from a tow from a Toro Rosso, but the rain held off which resulting in a busy end to the session for those under threat of dropping out.

Jenson Button was the biggest name to be eliminated - for the third time in four races in Q1 - as he locked up at Turn 1 on his final attempt and complained about the car’s handling. Kevin Magnussen also failed while team-mate Jolyon Palmer progressed despite being impeded by Felipe Nasr’s Sauber at Turn 4.

The two Saubers propped up the times, with Marcus Ericsson just ahead of Nasr, while the two Manors also dropped out as Pascal Wehrlein beat team-mate Esteban Ocon by just 0.005s. Ocon complained Wehrlein "blocked me massively”, on his final run, adding: “This is not cool”.

Silbermann says ... I'm going AWOL

Romain Grosjean column: Time for Haas to raise its game

FEATURE: What Rosberg need to do to win the title in Brazil

INTERVIEW: Fernando Alonso: Why F1 is no longer just for heroes

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
01	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:11.511	1:11.238	1:10.736
02	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:11.815	1:11.373	1:10.838
03	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:12.100	1:12.301	1:11.404
04	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:11.957	1:11.834	1:11.485
05	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:12.159	1:12.010	1:11.495
06	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:12.409	1:12.047	1:11.540
07	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:12.893	1:12.343	1:11.937
08	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:12.428	1:12.360	1:12.104
09	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:12.684	1:12.331	1:12.165
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:12.700	1:12.312	1:12.266
11	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:12.680	1:12.420
12	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:13.052	1:12.431
13	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:12.432	1:12.521
14	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:13.071	1:12.726
15	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:12.950	1:12.920
16	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:13.259	1:13.258
17	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:13.276
18	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:13.410
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:13.427
20	Esteban Ocon	Manor	1:13.432
21	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:13.623
22	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:13.681

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.