SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — Felipe Massa took the pole position Saturday for the decisive Brazilian Grand Prix, edging overall leader Lewis Hamilton.
Kimi Raikkonen was third and Fernando Alonso fourth.
Massa, last year’s winner in Brazil, drove his Ferrari around the 4.3-kilometre anti-clockwise Interlagos track in one minute 11.931 seconds, 0.151 faster than Hamilton and 0.391 faster than teammate Raikkonen. Alonso timed 1:12.356.
Sunday’s Brazilian GP will decide the tightest F1 race for the championship in 21 years. Hamilton has 107 points, four more than McLaren teammate Alonso and seven more than Raikkonen. A win is worth 10 points and second through eighth are 8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Hamilton needs to finish in the top two to become the first rookie to win the drivers’ championship and F1’s youngest champion, surpassing Alonso’s feat in 2005. A title would also make Hamilton the first British F1 champion since Damon Hill in 1996.
It was warm and sunny for qualifying on Saturday, in conditions similar to those expected for Sunday’s race.
All three title contenders easily made it through the first two elimination sessions but Massa came out strong in the final part of the time trials, with the Brazilian clinching the pole to the delight of the fans at Interlagos.
Massa had also been fastest in Saturday’s last practice before qualifying, edging Hamilton, Raikkonen and Alonso.
Fifteen of the last 16 winners have started in the front row this season. In Interlagos, front-row starters have won every race since 2004..
Hamilton took the pole six times this season, the most among all drivers. He started from the pole for the last two races, winning the Japanese GP but failing in China, where he ran off the track into a gravel trap in a mistake that cost him a chance to clinch the title early.
The 22-year-old Hamilton had the fastest practice time on Friday (1:12.767), and escaped a penalty for using two sets of wet tires during the morning session in breach of FIA regulations. His McLaren team was fined 15,000 euros (C$20,600) and prevented from using the extra set of wet tires on Hamilton’s car for the remainder of the weekend.
Alonso is the only driver using an older engine because of a crash at the Japanese GP three weeks ago. Drivers must use the same engine in two consecutive races, and Alonso had a new one in China and is using it again now.
It is the first time since 1986 — when Alain Prost was the champion — that three drivers have a chance of winning the title in the last race.