Reuters
Sao Paulo, Nov 15: Nico Rosberg swept to his fifth successive pole position here Saturday with Mercedes teammate and triple Formula One (F1) World Champion Lewis Hamilton qualifying alongside on the Brazilian Grand Prix front row. The German again denied Hamilton, a 50th career pole, this time by a mere 0.078 seconds on a sunny afternoon at Interlagos.
“I’m just thinking about the individual races. I’m here, I want to win,” said Rosberg who won from pole here last season. “It’s always better to finish on a high than a low, for this season and also thinking about next year,” he added.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel qualified third and will be joined on the second row by teammate Kimi Raikkonen because Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, who was fourth fastest, has a three-place grid penalty.
Hamilton has so far tried and failed eight times to win in Brazil, the home of his late boyhood idol and triple champion Ayrton Senna, and faces another tough battle Sunday even if his chances remain good. Four of the last six winners in Brazil have started in second place.
“My main job this year is already done,” said the 30-year-old Briton when asked how much victory here mattered to him. “It was good today (Saturday) actually. I got a really good balance with the car. It is a circuit I haven’t won at and I hope to rectify that tomorrow (Sunday),” added the Brit.
Despite his recent dominance in qualifying, Rosberg has only managed to convert one of his previous four poles into victory, the most recent in Mexico. Hamilton won the other three races before that and now has 10 victories for the season to his teammate’s four.
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat will share the third row, with the Williams pair of Bottas and Brazilian Felipe Massa behind them.