Brazilian GP: Brawn GP qualifying report

Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello took pole position in the rain delayed qualifying session at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo today ahead of his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, with team-mate Jenson Button qualifying in 14th position on the grid.

Heavy rain showers left the track deluged with water and qualifying was subject to several lengthy delays. Running on the Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres, Rubens and Jenson progressed easily through Q1 in fifth and six positions respectively.

A delayed Q2 saw a slightly drier track and after some set-up changes to his car, Jenson suffered with understeer and a lack of rear grip which left him without the pace necessary to progress to the next session, with Rubens going through in 10th place.

A great drive in Q3 saw Rubens put his Brawn-Mercedes car at the top of the timesheets for his first pole position of the year.

RUBENS BARRICHELLO

"I'm so happy to have qualified on pole for my home Grand Prix today particularly after such an unusual qualifying session. It's the first time in seventeen years that I've got out of the car twice during qualifying! I'm very proud of what we achieved today. We were lucky to make it through Q2 when we should have gone for intermediates but it was a great drive in Q3. It's a good situation to be starting from the front and have your own race pace rather than be in the pack. However the job is only half done and I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground and just focusing on having a good race tomorrow. It's great for all the fans at Interlagos who sat through all the rain delays and kept supporting me to have a Brazilian starting from the front tomorrow."

JENSON BUTTON

"It was a crazy qualifying session today and it's obviously very disappointing to have only qualified in 14th position. The first session went well and our pace was reasonably good in the wet which was encouraging. The track had dried out a little for Q2 so we made some small set-up changes but the balance of the car just felt transformed. I had massive understeer for the first few laps and tried everything that I could to set a time but the pace just wasn't there. By the third lap, the rear tyres started to go away, leaving me with no rear grip, and I just couldn't improve my time. It's going to make the race very tough tomorrow as I will be right in the middle of the pack but I'll make the most of it and any opportunities to make progress."

ROSS BRAWN

"It was a day of mixed fortunes with Rubens achieving a quite superb pole position at his home race and Jenson unfortunately not progressing from Q2. It was a chaotic and delayed qualifying with the heavy rain causing havoc and requiring the team and drivers to stay focused through the long delays. We were lucky in Q2 with Rubens who just scraped through but Jenson missed out. The lack of balance which Jenson experienced on his set of wet tyres was unexpected and proved costly as we believed it was possible to get through without using intermediates which proved with hindsight to be the wrong strategy. Jenson went for the lap right at the end but unfortunately the pace was just not there. Rubens did a fantastic job today to get the pole position. The car has been working well all weekend and the potential was evident from the result that he achieved in Q3."

-credit: brawn gp