Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg stunned the Formula One fraternity in the changeable conditions at Interlagos on Saturday afternoon as he fought and beat the Red Bulls, Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren to take pole position for Williams.
As the weather showed signs of improving for Q3, the question arose whether anyone might get around to a run on slicks… Sure enough, after Hamilton set the pace with 1m 17.212s on intermediate Bridgestones ahead of Schumacher, Vettel, Alonso and Webber, they ventured out on slicks for their final runs.
Hulkenberg was fast all through, and pasted everyone with a final lap of 1m 14.470s to put pole well beyond doubt. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber crucially start second and third for Red Bull, in 1m 15.519s and 1m 15.637s respectively, and with Hamilton fourth on 1m 15.747s, Fernando Alonso is only fifth for Ferrari on 1m 15.989s.
Rubens Barrichello put the second Williams sixth with 1m 16.203s ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica on 1m 16.552s, Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher on 1m 16.925s, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on 1m 17.101s and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov on 1m 17.656s. It was the qualifying session of the year!
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