Brazilian GP: McLaren Saturday qualifying notes

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, the final round of the 2007 World Championship, from the front row of the grid. In an exciting qualifying, Lewis set a time of 1min12.082 and was ...

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, the final round of the 2007 World Championship, from the front row of the grid. In an exciting qualifying, Lewis set a time of 1min12.082 and was second fastest, 0.151 second behind pole position. Fernando Alonso qualified fourth fastest with a time of 1min12.356.

Lewis Hamilton:

"A fantastic last run for me which could have seen me possibly on pole. Overall I am happy with today's qualifying. The car is working well, and I feel really comfortable. Obviously it was a very close and tense session, but the team did a good job in making sure that we both got that final fuel burning lap. I am quite confident and relaxed for tomorrow, and I know what I have to do to win the championship. My focus is not on winning the race but the title."

Fernando Alonso:

"Obviously I would have liked to be on the front row, but it was not to be. We made some changes to the car for qualifying but unfortunately they didn't work as well as we thought they would and as a result I was not totally confident with the car. However as we have seen in China a lot of things can take place during a long race, so we will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow."

Ron Dennis:

"Both Fernando and Lewis did a great job in qualifying. We obviously cut it fine to ensure that both drivers got an additional fuel burning lap, but it all worked as planned. Fernando and Lewis had the same advantage, and its now really in their hands. It was obviously good for the crowd that Massa got pole, but we are trying to be disciplined and focus on the race and winning the World Championship with one of our drivers. The whole team look forward to the race which hopefully will be exciting for all the fans."

Norbert Haug:

"A good basis to start this championship deciding race from. Lewis starts from the first row for the 12th time this season and Fernando is just 30 thousandths of a second behind Kimi on the second row. It will be a tough challenge, and the entire team is working hard to achieve the last and decisive step in the World Championship."

Chassis allocation
Fernando Alonso: MP4-22 03
Lewis Hamilton: MP4-22 05
T-car: MP4-22 04