NASCAR Hits Downtown Las Vegas

Jimmie Johnson signs autographs Wednesday in downtown Las Vegas on the Fremont Street Experience (Getty)

Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart play the Newlywed game Wednesday in downtown Las Vegas hosted by Bob Eubanks

Stewart and NASCAR Hit Las Vegas for Sprint Cup Awards

By Mike Hembree
SpeedTV.com

Even in a down economy, even in bad weather, even with some of its giant hotel/casinos practically begging for customers, there’s always something big going on in Las Vegas.

It might be the annual convention of the International Paper Towel Manufacturers or the gathering of the Scottish clans from all 50 states or a comeback concert by the Dave Clark Five or a heavyweight title fight (if they still have those).

The Las Vegas Strip is one of the busiest roadways in America – and probably the busiest of all those that pass a Statue of Liberty, an Eiffel Tower AND a pyramid.

NASCAR knew when it moved its Sprint Cup awards banquet from the concrete canyons of New York City to the neon overload of Las Vegas that – as in Manhattan – it would share the billing. Las Vegas is so big and bustling and brawling – and so in need of the cash influx – that it can absorb a laundry list of big events and do so in such a fashion that one never really infringes on the other.

That will be the case this week as Sin City hosts, in addition to its normal list of concerts, shows, nightclub acts and off-the-cuff performances by street people, the Sprint Cup Champion’s Week and its Friday awards banquet finale, the opening nights of the National Finals Rodeo (THE national event for those of the rough-ridin’, Stetson-wearing, boot-stomping persuasion) and the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon.


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Pictures from the awards and festivities will be posted

'We convinced Kimi to come back' - Boullier

Renault team principal Eric Boullier believes his team's potential convinced Kimi Raikkonen to return to Formula One.

The 2007 world champion has signed a two-year deal with the team that will see him return to the sport after a two-year absence. Boullier said the news was positive for the team and proof that it was on the right track for the future.

"It is good news for the sport and of course it is good news for the team," Boullier said. "Strategically, it is good to have a big name, a high class driver and Formula One world champion to join us. He is committed to racing for us and he is definitely a very good character with the experience he has from driving for McLaren and Ferrari. Also, to have someone like Kimi signing with us shows that the package we have offered was good enough - we convinced Kimi to come back to Formula One!"

Raikkonen is adamant he has the motivation to make a successful comeback, but said his two biggest challenges for 2012 would be learning to use the Pirelli tyres and building up his neck muscles. There will be just three four-day tests ahead of the start of the season, but Boullier said Raikkonen will be able to hone his skills and fitness using the team's new simulator and a some runs in a 2009-spec car.

"First of all, in not so long we will have our simulator ready - this is good news for him and for us," he added. "I think that we will also be able to plan a couple of days with the demo car."

Boullier said Renault has plenty to be optimistic about heading into the winter break and that it would be bolstering its team ahead of next season.

"There are many things that the team will announce soon, in the coming weeks and the coming months," he said. "Let's not forget that the team's current identity is only a couple of years old and it is clear that we have made some strategic investments like the wind tunnel, like the CFD pole and like the building of the simulator- it will be a state of the art simulator.

"We are also in the process to reinforce our team with the recruitment of some key people, some of them have already joined us and some are to be announced soon but we can't say too much at this stage as some of them are currently on gardening leave.

"Next year, we will also have an upgrade of our facilities trackside, in fact it is going to be a complete change with a new engineers truck, a new infrastructure for the team garage, which of course will also have an impact on our image and obviously Kimi joining us is a big step in reinforcing the investment Genii Capital is putting in the team at every level."

ESPNF1

Raikkonen returns with Lotus Renault in 2012

Lotus Renault has confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen will return to Formula One in 2012 after the 2007 World Champion signed a two-year contract with the team.

Raikkonen had previously been linked with a drive at Williams after displaying an interest to return to the sport he left in 2009. However, after Robert Kubica confirmed that he was not going to be fit to return by the start of 2012, Lotus Renault has moved to secure Raikkonen's services as its lead driver. Having pursued a rallying career since leaving Formula One, Raikkonen said that it had been clear that he wanted to return for some time.

"I'm delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I'm grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity," Raikkonen said. "My time in the World Rally Championship has been a useful stage in my career as a driver, but I can't deny the fact that my hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming. It was an easy choice to return with Lotus Renault GP as I have been impressed by the scope of the team's ambition. Now I'm looking forward to playing an important role in pushing the team to the very front of the grid."

With Raikkonen having taken 18 grand prix victories in his career to date, chairman of Lotus Renault owners Genii Capital, Gerard Lopez, said that he was looking forward to having a world champion in the team.

"All year long, we kept saying that our team was at the start of a brand new cycle," Lopez said. "Backstage we've been working hard to build the foundations of a successful structure and to ensure that we would soon be able to fight at the highest level. Kimi's decision to come back to Formula 1 with us is the first step of several announcements which should turn us into an even more serious contender in the future. Of course, we are all looking forward to working with a world champion. On behalf of our staff, I'd like to welcome Kimi to Enstone, a setting that has always been known for its human approach to Formula 1."

ESPNF1

Kimi Raikkonen Interview;

Who said what after the Brazilian Grand Prix

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso - 4th "Yet another race in which we did everything to perfection, from the start to the strategy and the work of the team. The final result is more down to the performance of the others than our own, because we could not have done more. Once again today, we got a very good start, putting a nice passing move on Button, but then, on the Medium tyres, we no longer had the speed to fend him off. I also had a problem with the DRS which would not activate: I was not fighting closely with other drivers, but it would certainly have helped me gain a few tenths while overtaking. This Grand Prix produced an accurate reflection of
the season: we have almost always done our maximum, fighting for a podium finish in a car that was not as good as the top two. In terms of team work we grew a lot in 2011 and we must absolutely make this the starting point for a very different 2012. If I had to score our performance, I can but repeat what President Montezemolo said, giving us something between a five and six, but all the same I am proud of what the team was able to do. We need a car that is about five or six tenths quicker: achieving that won't be a walk in the park, but I have every confidence in our engineers and in a team that dominated the last decade in Formula 1 and holds every possible record in this sport. Let us not forget that I managed to get on the podium ten times and to score more points than last year. Losing out on third in the Drivers' Championship is definitely not a big problem: first place is the only one that really counts…"

Felipe Massa - 5th "It was a difficult race, at the end of a weekend that was not the best from a technical point of view. We never managed to find the right balance and then came the sting in the tail of the puncture we discovered yesterday, which robbed me of a set of Softs for the race and thus meant I had to make only two stops. I knew it would be penalising because I would have to do a lot of laps on the Medium, a tyre with which we have a bigger performance gap than on the Softs when compared to our closest competitors. Sure, I would have liked to celebrate my one hundredth Grand Prix with Ferrari with a much different result, but I have to accept the way things went. In fact, the race pretty much summed up the season: reasonably good on the Soft, then struggling on the harder compound. I was very pleased to feel the affection of the crowd, who supported me from the start to the end of the weekend. It's been a difficult year for me and the team and now we can turn the page. We must work on improving the car and I will do all I can never to have such a disappointing season again. I want to say I was pleased that Lewis came round to see me while I was talking to the journalists: it was a very nice gesture on his part. What do I want from Father Christmas? Along with Felipinho, I will be writing and asking for a fantastic car right from start to finish in 2012…"

Stefano Domenicali, team principal "We had hoped and wanted to end the season with at least one more podium finish, even if we knew it would be very difficult given the quality of opponent we had ahead of us after qualifying. Fernando came close to achieving our wish, fighting to the bitter end, but he had to settle for looking up at the podium, which along with Webber's win, means he won't be off to India to take part in the FIA Gala for the top three finishers in the Drivers' Championship: it's a shame because given how he performed this year - he even scored more points than in 2010 - he definitely deserved better. Felipe was forced to adopt a strategy which looked slower on paper, but he had a good race all the same and would have finished fifth on track even without having to wait for the retirement of the second McLaren. Now we can definitely file away a year where our performance was insufficient by our standards and think only of next season. Once again, we congratulate those who did a better job than us and we look forward to facing them again next year, when we will try to be the best of the lot. That is our target and we have no intention of hiding the fact. We have weeks of hard work ahead of us and we will only start to see the fruits of our labours in February, when it's time to fire up the engines again. Finally, let me say I am happy to hear that Lewis came round to see Felipe during his press meeting, which thus puts an end to all the recent misunderstandings."

Pat Fry, technical director "A logical outcome to a not particularly exciting race. We had expected rain but it did not come, even if it occasionally circled the area around the track. Another surprise, unfortunately a negative one, came last night, when we discovered that the right rear tyre from the first set of Soft tyres that Felipe had used in qualifying had a puncture: this meant he had to run a two stop strategy, which we knew would penalise him in terms of overall race time compared to those who were three stopping. Both drivers got great starts: they could have even gained another place but at that point the track ran out! Fernando was fantastic in the first half of the race, passing Button with a very nice move and then he managed the gap in impeccable fashion. Then, once he switched to the Medium tyre, he paid the price we usually do with the harder compound, when compared to McLaren and he was not able to fend off Button's comeback. A shame, as it would have been nice to finish on the podium, but I have to say Fernando has had an incredible 2011, if you just think how often he managed to finish in the top three. Now it's up to us to give him and Felipe a much more competitive car than this one. That is our aim, which we have been thinking about day and night and on which we are pushing as hard as we can. I want to congratulate the entire team for the way they have worked at the track this year. We have made significant steps forward and we must continue down this route for next year. We can expect some busy months ahead when there will be plenty of opportunities to improve still further."

Force India

Adrian Sutil - 6th "I'm really happy about the result today. It completes a great weekend where everything went to plan. I had a good feeling in all the sessions and the team did a brilliant job to give me such a good car today. We also made the right calls with the strategy because we knew there was a chance to beat Mercedes, and that's exactly what we did. So I'm very happy with my sixth place - it's the best way to end the year and it also means that I move up to ninth place in the drivers' championship, which was my aim."

Paul Di Resta - 8th "My eighth place today is a great result after quite a tough race for me. There was a concern with the gearbox around half way through the race so the team told me to just try and bring the car home. In the final stint it was just a case of managing the gap to Kobayashi behind me and we had enough to do that quite easily in the end. So that's the end of my first season of Formula 1 and it's been a great year, especially now we have finished sixth in the championship. It's well deserved for the entire team and I want to thank everyone for their help and support during this amazing year."

Robert Fernley, deputy team principal "Today's result is the perfect way to end what has been a tremendous season for Sahara Force India. Adrian and Paul drove brilliant races to add 12 more points to our tally and confirm our sixth place in the championship - our highest finish to date. I'm also very pleased that we could move Adrian up to ninth in the drivers' standings. As a team we have taken great strides forward this season and now is the time to congratulate everyone who has contributed to that. We head into the winter in good spirits and determined to come back even stronger next year to pick up where we left off."

HRT

Vitantonio Liuzzi - DNF "At the start my car went into anti-stall so when I dropped the clutch the car stopped and everyone passed me and, therefore, I was last coming into the first corner but then during the first lap I managed to make up for it. Everything went well in qualifying and during the race we had a good pace and competed well with the Virgins so it's a great shame that I suffered an alternator failure towards the end which forced us to retire. It's unfortunate because we wanted to finish the season with a strong result. It's a shame because we could have achieved it. Now we have to work hard for next year and try to recover from this problem and make up for it in the future because we need to be strong and competitive in every race".

Daniel Ricciardo - 20th "The race was a bit up and down because the pace was a bit mixed. In the first stint for the first laps it seemed that I was quicker than Tonio and Glock but then a few laps later they were pulling away so it was hard to know if I was quicker or not. In the second stint we went with option tyres again and our pace wasn't bad but I think we abused the tyres a bit too much and I had to pit a bit earlier for the primes because the tyres were finished. It took a few laps for the primes to start working but once they did the times were better than ever. At that stage D'Ambrosio was too far in front but the positive thing for me was that I was able to continue producing good lap times towards the end of the race. It's been a really good six months and I'm happy with how the season has gone, you always want a bit more but realistically it has been really good and I have learned a lot. I want to thank HRT and Red Bull for giving me the opportunity to come and do it".

Colin Kolles, team principal "After yesterday's performance, we were hoping for a better race. Neither Tonio nor Daniel had a good start and we lost the position to the Virgin but from there both drivers had a good pace throughout the race. The pit stops were also good but, unfortunately, we couldn't finish the race with both cars due to an alternator failure on Tonio's car at the final stages. It has been a hard and difficult season but I want to say thank you to Tonio, Narain and Daniel, but also all the mechanics and team personnel for their efforts and commitment to the team. I'm proud of them all".

Lotus

Heikki Kovalainen - 16th "Thank you to everyone for another excellent weekend for the team where I don't think we could have got anything more from the whole package. All afternoon the car felt great and we managed to make the most of the performance we put in yesterday in qualifying. I had another great start today, they've really been excellent for some time now, and from there I got straight into a good rhythm right throughout the whole race. I had a few issues with the blue flags towards the end, with so many cars coming around it kind of messes with your own race, but that's just something you have to deal with. All year we've kept on progressing and we've finished on a real high with that tenth place so we're set us up perfectly for next year where we can take another step forward in the development of this team."

Jarno Trulli - 18th "For me it was a pretty standard race. I didn't have a great start but was easily ahead of the cars we needed to beat today and it was really just about getting the car home in one piece so we could seal our place in the championship. I want to thank the whole team for the work they've done this weekend and all year. We keep on progressing and it's great to be part of something that shows real signs of where it can go."

Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer "I think that is a great way to end the season and secure tenth place. It was a tense afternoon for us with all the possible weather changes, but the conditions held off and we had the sort of race we have been putting in for much of this year. Both drivers were pushing all afternoon - with Jarno we put him on a two stop race which meant he had to look after his tyres. That might have ended up costing him some time, but with Heikki we ran a three stop race and he brought his car home where we thought he could. Really though today is about doing the job for our shareholders and our partners, in particular Renault Sport F1 and Red Bull Technology who have played such a key role in today's success. Congratulations to our shareholders for the rewards we have now gained from finishing tenth for two seasons running. They deserve this success for the incredible support they give us every day and we will keep working hard to make them proud."

Tony Fernandes, team principal "Almost tears for me today! I am absolutely overjoyed. Two years of hard work have paid off today and it was great to see both cars home safely, helping us win tenth place. The icing on the cake was beating a Renault - that meant a lot to me as I have always said the good guys do win. We have a fantastic little team here, and some incredible partners in GE, Dell, Intel, APC and CNN and I know how much it means to each and every person associated with us to have finished this season where we wanted to. Now we look forward to our new life as Caterham F1 Team and we say goodbye to Team Lotus. Colin - we hope we did you proud and we hope you keep an eye over us as Caterham F1 Team. We know we will do you proud there as well."

McLaren

Jenson Button - 3rd "I couldn't really get the soft tyre working around here - we had massive degradation on each set - and that prompted the decision to run two sets of Primes in my final two stints. My pace on the Prime was great - and using two sets really meant I could find a good balance and work out where the grip was. Earlier in the race, it was disappointing to be passed by Fernando [Alonso]. Out of Turn Five, I saw lots of debris on the circuit, and I didn't know what it was. I didn't want to drive over it, and I couldn't pull to the left because Fernando was there, so I had to back out of it and fall behind. It was a pretty easy move for Fernando to make after that. But the Prime was working really well and that helped me chase Fernando down in the final stint and pass him out of Turn Three. Ideally, I wanted to get him into Turn One, because it's more fun to pass someone without using DRS, but I set him up and got him out of Turn Three after getting a good run along the straight. We gave it everything today - and a podium is a great way to end the year. I've had 12 podiums from this season's 19 Grands Prix - and I didn't finish two of them due to reliability issues. All in all, it's been a good, consistent season for us. There are a lot of positives to take away from this year. We'll have a strong winter and come out fighting from the first race. We've just got to start the season a bit more strongly, that's all, and that's what we'll be aiming to do. We want to make it hard for Red Bull in 2012. Finally, I want to say a big thank-you to the whole team - we've really grown together this year. I really feel like I'm part of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes family now: there's an awful lot of passion in our organisation, and I'm proud to be part of it."

Lewis Hamilton - DNF "At the start I wanted to avoid any aggro, and that meant I lost a position to Fernando. After that I had reasonably decent pace, and I was able to stay close to Fernando and Jenson until I encountered a gearbox problem. It occurred quite early on - I was having problems with first and second - and it meant I started losing quite a lot of time and Fernando and Jenson were able to pull away from me. The problem meant I stopped being able to make good, clean gearshifts. Then I lost seventh, and then the whole thing just let go. Of course, it's not the way I'd like to have ended the season, but it wasn't so bad. I enjoyed my race while it lasted. I was challenging Felipe and I was hoping I'd get him, but then the gearbox failure stopped me. It's been a long year, and I want to say a huge thank-you to the team. They've never given up, and they've worked incredibly hard all season. We didn't get the ultimate result we wanted, but we had some great times along the way. I'll be attacking next season; 2012 will be my year."

Martin Whitmarsh, team principal "Today we saw yet another brilliant performance from Jenson, who has driven magnificently all season but particularly in the second half of it. It was his eighth podium finish in the past nine grands prix - and the odd race out in that splendidly consistent sequence was the Korean Grand Prix, in which he finished a fighting fourth. Today he drove cleanly, shrewdly and patiently - but forcefully too - and the way he optimised his pace on the Prime tyre was masterful. He drove his two final stints on the Prime, in fact, which enabled him to hunt down Fernando's Ferrari in the closing stages of the race to take a beautifully judged third place. Lewis drove extremely well today too, but unfortunately he was let down by gearbox failure. Quite early on, we noticed a loss of oil pressure, then he lost seventh gear, and then he lost all drive and was forced to call it a day. But prior to that he was improvising intelligently and never gave up. Moreover, his typically combative approach played a significant part in the afternoon's entertainment, and surely thrilled TV viewers worldwide. Lewis has had a challenging year - but his gutsy performances here and, in particular, in Abu Dhabi, where he took his third win of the season, represent an eloquent testimony to an emphatic return to form on his part. He's already focusing on 2012, and I'm sure he'll prepare for the new season with his customary determination and will to win. The same can be said for all at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines, in fact. We've been concentrating our energies on MP4-27 for some time now, and we'll maintain that intensive effort throughout the winter months. All things considered, 2011 was a pretty decent year for us - we finished second in the constructors' world championship, 122 points ahead of the third-placed team and 332 points ahead of the fourth-placed team - but we aim to win outright. Next season we intend to do just that."

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg - 7th "Today wasn't an ideal ending to the season, and although I scored some points, I expected to finish higher than P7. I didn't get a good start, and I had problems with my tyres overheating as the track temperatures were very high. So I had to manage my tyres very carefully during the whole race which impacted on the pace. Now I'm looking ahead and I hope we can do better in 2012. I look forward to an exciting time in the winter as we work hard to develop a better car for next year."

Michael Schumacher - 15th "It was a bit of a shame today with the incident with Bruno, which was caused perhaps due to some lack of experience, but then those things happen. Otherwise I think we could have had a nice race with some solid points. After the collision, all I could do was try to fight as much as possible, and hope for rain which did not come. In the first stint after the incident, my car was not well-balanced with a lot of oversteer. Unfortunately we could not change this at the pit stop which handicapped the balance in the second stint, whereas in the last stint the balance was good. We very much look forward to next season now. With all the effort that is being put into the development of the car, I am confident we can make another step forward to where Mercedes belongs; fighting at the top."

Ross Brawn, team principal "Nico didn't have a great car balance today, struggling with oversteer, and he had to look after the tyres very carefully. He experienced high levels of degradation and consequently had a frustrating afternoon trying to manage the balance, in a situation where the tyres were particularly sensitive. Michael had a good battle with Senna in the early laps, and his pass at the start of lap 10 was clear-cut. However, Senna showed his inexperience trying to defend a position that he had already lost, and the contact ruined Michael's race. After an unplanned stop to replace his punctured tyre, Michael was able to demonstrate the car's innate pace, thanks to a better car balance, and his lap times looked reasonably competitive. I want to say thank you to all the team in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart, whose efforts have not waned at any point during a long season. There are accomplishments we can be proud of this season, such as our consistently strong pit stops, and we know that we need to put everything together next year. Finally, I would like to highlight the excellent support we have enjoyed from all our partners in 2011. Formula One is a true team sport, and they have played an integral role in helping us build towards a more successful future."

Norbert Haug, motorsport director "It was certainly not a perfect end to our season and not the results we had wanted to achieve at this final race in Brazil. We need to investigate why Nico's speed over the major part of the race, suffering from a less than optimal car balance, was quite different to Michael's, who had an unfortunate coming-together during his second passing move of the race. This cost him dearly as he had to do a whole lap with a punctured left-rear tyre, but his pace afterwards did not look bad at all. I would like to take the opportunity at this season's final race to say thank you to all our team members in Brackley, Brixworth, Stuttgart and Fellbach for their dedicated work and relentless efforts. Also, I would like to thank all the partners and families of our team members - without their fantastic support, our colleagues could not get their demanding jobs done. There will be a short and well-deserved break for most of our team around Christmas before attacking next year with a better technical package, and the clear target of closing the gap to the top of the field."

Red Bull

Mark Webber - 1st "It feels very good; it's always nice to win. The battle with Sebastian wasn't a strong battle in the end because he had a problem, but even so, my pace was strong and I felt very good in the car. It's a nice way to finish the year. I felt good in the car and getting the fastest laps at the end was very rewarding. Looking back, it wasn't the greatest season for me, but also not the worst. I had a weak start to the year and wasn't able to capitalise on misfortune from others or put myself in a situation to win fair and square, which is what you want, but in motorsport you take the victories when they come. So, it was a very important win for me today and for the team to finish on a high is great. I really enjoyed the last few laps. This is a great track for the team and we have gained three wins in a row here."

Sebastian Vettel - 2nd "I got the message we had a problem, which was a shame as we had a great start to the race. After that, it was obvious that that I had to shift early and save the gearbox. I hoped it would recover so I kept pushing, but it didn't happen and then the target was to see the chequered flag. Mark had a great race and deserved to win. I got second and I'm happy to have a trophy. It was a great end to the season; to finish with both cars and a one two is very good, I would have loved to have won the race, but nonetheless we had a great season. It's really incredible - going into the season we thought we had a competitive car and that maybe we could win some races, but it has been phenomenal. The team has been faultless most of the time and raised their level massively compared to the last two years. We enjoy what we do and it's nice to come into the garage each day and see everyone with a smile on their face being happy. That's the main thing - we love what we do and are passionate about it."

Christian Horner, team principal "It was an incredible race. To sign off the year with a one-two finish is a fantastic way to end the year. The race was dominated by trying to manage the problem that Sebastian had; he did an unbelievable job to keep his car alive to the end of the race. The problem appeared on lap 5, due to a gearbox that was losing oil. Temperatures were therefore creeping up, but he adopted his driving technique and did an awesome job to get the car to the end. Mark was not far behind at the time and Sebastian conceded the lead. Thereafter Mark drove a fantastic race and had a very deserving victory to sign off what has been an unbelievable year. To have won 12 grand prix and defended both World Championships is fantastic and the timing's right to thank every member of the team for all their hard work. I'd like to also thank Renault and all our partners and obviously a very special thank you to Red Bull and Mr. Mateschitz for all the tremendous support they have shown us all year, without which none of these results would have been possible."

Renault

Bruno Senna - 17th "What can I say - it's been quite a difficult day and the overall feeling is one of disappointment. I started the race in a healthy position on the grid and I was hoping to capitalise on that. There were many difficulties preventing us from having a better race, namely the incident with Michael and the gearbox problems. I would love to have given my home fans something to smile about, but unfortunately it was not to be."

Vitaly Petrov - 10th "Definitely it is good to finish with a point, which was a good response to yesterday's qualifying position. My race start was good and my speed was not too bad and I was quite happy with the car. We came in quite early and I think we lost out being behind both Toro Rosso as it was very difficult to overtake them. I lost quite a lot of time like this, otherwise I think I could have been ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and it would have been better to finish in P9 instead of P10. The pit stops were better, with one very good one - my crew were working well right up to the end of the season. I wanted more points this year. It was not a fantastic season but I want to say thank you to all the team who have supported me and believed in me. Next year is another season and I hope we can work even better together and achieve much better results."

Eric Boullier, team principal "There are positives to take from today. On the surface, 10th and 17th positions would not seem good enough but we took a point from the final race of the season. Vitaly did this for us from a lowly 15th position on the starting grid, so that has to be commended - he drove a reasonably good race. Bruno was unfortunate not to have a better time of things in front of his home fans. The team have once again put in a lot of hard work this weekend and I'm very thankful to everyone for that."

Alan Permane, trackside operations director "A tricky race for us as those we were racing were able to run to two stops and our tyre wear meant that we had to make three. Vitaly drove strongly to go from 15th to 10th, whereas Bruno's race was totally compromised with a gearbox issue leaving him without fourth gear. Bruno didn't suffer from his wing making contact with Michael's car and it would have taken longer to change the wing than we would have gained from replacing it. Bruno's contact with Michael looked like a racing incident so we were surprised at the penalty, but of course we respect the stewards' decision. Overall, it's certainly been a trying season and I can't wait till next year."

Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi - 9th "The team did a very good job to recover from a really bad qualifying. I had a good start and also a good race pace. We worked a lot on the race pace and I'm happy that I was able to score in the final two races of the season. It was important for us to finish ahead of Toro Rosso and I'm glad we managed to do that. The strategy was good and the car was as well - many thanks to the guys. After we have struggled a bit in the second half of the season, we have a lot to work on over the winter. I think it is good that we will have the same team with the same drivers again, but we want to become stronger."

Sergio Pérez - 13th "The team's main target for today was to make sure we finished the season in seventh, and I am very happy that this was achieved, although I couldn't contribute this time. As a team I think we are all already looking forward to the next season. After all that has happened I am happy with my rookie season. I have learned a lot and with this experience I want to do a good job in 2012. However, my race today wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. The start was fine, but we had opted for wet conditions and the result was that the rear tyres tended to overheat. The car was quite difficult to drive and I'm sorry for the spin at half distance."

Peter Sauber, team principal "It was an important result today. We were able to move up one position in the constructors' championship compared to last year, which is good for the morale of the team. Kamui drove a fantastic race, making up positions in the early laps and then driving fast and consistently to take two championship points. Thanks to the whole team at the track, in Hinwil and to our partner Ferrari."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, head of track engineering "Everything went according to plan today. Both drivers were able to make up positions in the early stages of the race. It was important that Kamui was immediately in front of Sébastien Buemi and Sergio directly behind him and in front of Jaime Alguersuari. This is want we wanted. After that it was a matter of controlling the race. Our strategy was to be ready for some rain, which was predicted but in the end didn't happen. So for both drivers the tyre choice was soft, soft and medium. As it has been for most of the time this year, our pace was good in the race. Congratulations to the whole team."

Toro Rosso

Jaime Alguersuari - 11th "This was a difficult race right from the start, with low grip in the first stint on the softer tyre, especially in terms of traction and at the exit to slow corners and I was struggling a lot to follow Buemi and Perez. The second stint on the harder tyre was much better, but it's hard to understand in general why we seem to have lost performance in the last two races. Overall, I am happy to finish the season on 26 points whereas last year I had only five, so hopefully I can continue this improvement by doing better next year."

Sebastien Buemi - 12th "Of course, we were hoping to score points today, but we were not competitive enough, finishing 11th and 12th. I got a good start, passing Jaime and Barrichello but after that I soon suffered with tyre degradation partly because we did not have the best set up for these conditions, but in terms of my own performance I feel I did the best I could. I am disappointed we could not get ahead of Sauber, but that's racing. Overall, the season has not been too bad and I had some good races, but I lost points with various mishaps and problems. The team has worked well but we need to improve still further next year if we want to do better than this."

Franz Tost "At the start of the season, we set ourselves the target of finishing at least eighth in the Constructors' championship and that is where we have finished, 36 points ahead of those in ninth place. However, having come so close to challenging for seventh place when we picked up a significant number of points in Korea and India, we cannot be happy with missing out on overtaking the team ahead of us, failing to score in the last two races. As for today's race, Sebastien got a good start, while Jaime dropped a couple of places and then on the Soft tyre, we struggled to match the pace of the Saubers who had got ahead of us at the start and therefore Kobayashi pulled away a bit. Once back on the Medium compound, Jaime was able to close the gap but not enough to get past. As for Buemi, he did not have the pace today, which was partly due to the fact we opted to give him a set-up that would have been more suited to a wet race. Work is already well underway on our next year's car and as from tomorrow, the entire team's focus switches to 2012."

Virgin

Jérôme D'Ambrosio - 19th "I think today was a great race and a great way to finish the season for me. We did a good job in qualifying yesterday and today was one of my best races so far. I'm happy this has happened here in Brazil, as I love this track. I'm also glad to finish ahead of HRT - definitely a very positive way to end the season. I want to thank the team for all their hard work. I have really enjoyed working together with them this year."

Timo Glock - DNF "A very disappointing way to end the season. It's a real shame to have had to retire after losing the left-rear tyre after my first pit-stop but unfortunately these things happen. So it wasn't the way I would have liked to end the season but, anyway, I want to thank the team for all the effort they have put in during the whole year. It has been great to work together."

John Booth, team principal "Both drivers had excellent starts and were it not for Timo being over to the left into Turn 1 I'm sure they would both have emerged n front of the HRTs. Jérôme drove another strong race and really proved that yesterday's qualifying positions were an anomaly for us this season. We apologise to Timo for the incident in his pit-stop which cost him the chance to end his season on the high note that would have been reflective of his commitment all year. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our team on their hard work and dedication right through to the end of what has been a long and challenging season. We may have suffered one final disappointment here today, but ultimately we have achieved a great deal in terms of laying important foundations for a more successful future. I would also like to thank our Partners for their unfailing support and we look forward to rewarding their faith in the steps we are taking to ensure we can all look forward to some very positive times ahead. Our thanks also to Cosworth and Pirelli for the positive working relationship we have shared this season."

Williams

Rubens Barrichello - 14th "We thought it was going to rain today so we were running a long first gear. I started at the bottom of the hill, and as it was a dry start, I slipped back. It was a fun race but we don't have a car that can finish in the points just yet. I want to thank the team for all their hard work this year. We have had a tough season but we've pushed together. There's been a lot of talk over the weekend, but I believe I will be back again next season."

Pastor Maldonado - DNF "I had a good start until I lost position fighting for space on track. Our overall pace during the race was fine, but the rear wing setting slightly held us back on the long straight. My retirement came after I passed Senna on lap 26. The car had too much oversteer and I just lost control of it."

Mark Gillan, chief operations engineer "Rubens had a difficult start which cost him a number of positions. We then changed his planned two stop strategy to a three as we were experiencing higher tyre wear than expected. Rubens continued to push hard to finish in P14, having held Schumacher off for the last few laps of the race. Pastor ran wide in turn 6/7 on lap 26 and had to stop having damaged the car. Rubens and Pastor fought hard today but ultimately did not have the pace to finish in the points. I'd like to thank the team for all their efforts this season."

ESPNF1

Mark Webber grabs first win of the year in season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix

Mark Webber finally claimed his first victory of the 2011 Formula 1 season in the very last race of the year, as gearbox troubles for world champion Sebastian Vettel opened the door for his Red Bull team-mate in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Red Bull absolutely dominated the Interlagos race, with Vettel holding the lead at the start, and Webber fending off the cars behind for second despite a slightly slower getaway.

Vettel soon opened up a stable three-second gap to Webber, as the Red Bull duo left the rest in their wake at a rate sometimes up to one second per lap.

But from the early laps Vettel was receiving radio messages warning him to short-shift to nurse a developing gearbox problem, and as the warnings became more vehement, his pace slowed enough for Webber to sweep into the lead on lap 29.

While the Australian went on to take his first win since the 2010 Hungarian GP, Vettel still had enough pace to hang on for second.

He was helped by McLaren's Jenson Button and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso battling over third. Alonso passed Lewis Hamilton's McLaren at the start, then claimed third from Button with a spectacular move around the outside at Ferradura on lap 11.

Alonso then pulled away, only to lose pace on the harder tyres in his final stint, allowing Button to catch and re-pass him nine laps from the finish with an easy DRS pass after various earlier attempts were rebuffed.

Hamilton was set to battle with Felipe Massa - who stopped just twice while most made three pitstops - for fifth until a gearbox failure halted the McLaren, ensuring the Ferrari could keep the place.

Adrian Sutil charged to sixth for Force India, beating Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and the second Force India of Paul di Resta.

Ninth place for Kamui Kobayashi ensured Sauber beat Toro Rosso - which failed to score - to seventh in the constructors' championship. Vitaly Petrov completed the points-scorers for Renault.

His team-mate Bruno Senna clashed with Michael Schumacher at the Senna S early on, giving the Mercedes a puncture. The stewards awarded Senna a drive-through penalty for the collision and with gearbox troubles also developing, he fell to 17th, while Schumacher got back to 15th.

Rubens Barrichello was unable to score in what could be his final grand prix. A poor start dropped the Williams to 21st and he was only able to recover to 14th.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Brazilian Grand Prix
Interlagos, Sao Paulo, Brazil;
71 laps; 305.909km;
Weather: Cloudy.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           1h32:17.434
 2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +    16.983
 3.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    27.638
 4.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    35.048
 5.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:06.733
 6.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     1 lap
 8.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
 9.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
10.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap
11.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
12.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
14.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
15.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap
16.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
17.  Senna         Renault                    +    2 laps
18.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
19.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps
20.  Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:15.324

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth                 62
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             37
Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth            27
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              22


World Championship standings, round 19:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel       392        1.  Red Bull-Renault          650
 2.  Button       270        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          497
 3.  Webber       258        3.  Ferrari                   375
 4.  Alonso       257        4.  Mercedes                  165
 5.  Hamilton     227        5.  Renault                    73
 6.  Massa        118        6.  Force India-Mercedes       69
 7.  Rosberg       89        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             44
 8.  Schumacher    76        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         41
 9.  Sutil         42        9.  Williams-Cosworth           5
10.  Petrov        37       
11.  Heidfeld      34       
12.  Kobayashi     30       
13.  Di Resta      27       
14.  Alguersuari   26       
15.  Buemi         15       
16.  Perez         14       
17.  Barrichello    4       
18.  Senna          2       
19.  Maldonado      1       
       
All timing unofficial

Autosport

Who said what after Qualifying in Brazil

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso - 5th "My subscription to fifth place has been extended for one more Saturday! This time however, getting to my classic starting place on the grid was a bit more of a struggle than usual. We are not very pleased with the balance of the car and we were expecting a very competitive Mercedes. However, in Q3, we got much
closer to the McLarens than we could have expected, while the first of the Mercedes was left a few tenths back. What this means is that we managed to get a little bit more out of it than our potential would indicate. I certainly can't say the way qualifying went was much of a surprise. If it really rains tomorrow, it will be a very exciting and open race: no one really knows how competitive they can be in the wet and then it requires next to nothing - one lap more or less out on track at a time when the conditions change - to turn around a situation that looks set in stone. It's true that for us, the problem of getting the tyres up to temperature are more acute in the wet, but then it's equally true that when the track does dry, we are quicker than our rivals: the various stages of the race at Silverstone demonstrated this to be the case. If however, we were to race in the dry, then maybe there will be a lot of stops because today the tyres seemed to degrade more than yesterday. The perfect recipe for the last race of the year? The four in front of us stop and me and Felipe are ahead of the rest!"

Felipe Massa - 7th "I was expecting more from this final qualifying of the year and I definitely cannot be happy with this seventh place. Unfortunately, we were unable to find the right balance throughout the weekend. In some corners I was locking up the front and in the slower ones I suffered with understeer, in others I lacked traction: all in all, the car was rather difficult to drive. On top of that, it was a rather complicated day. I had to use two sets of Softs in Q2 and I paid for that in Q3, as I could only do one run. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain so the situation could change. It's difficult to make predictions on the relative strengths: this year in the wet, sometimes we have seen a very strong Red Bull, other times McLaren have been very quick, but it's also true that anything can happen in these conditions. The important thing is to be prepared for all situations. For me, it's always a fantastic feeling racing at this track, in front of my amazing home crowd: I will try my all to do well and to finally make it onto the podium at the end of such a difficult year. It would be a nice way to end my tenth season in Formula 1 and to celebrate in a worthy manner my hundredth race with Scuderia Ferrari."

Stefano Domenicali, team principal "If the numbers and the equation are always the same, there is no reason for them to deliver a different sum! We ended development on this car several months ago and everything we are doing now is aimed at next year. In the meantime, we are trying to squeeze out the maximum from what we have got, in order to finish this season in the best way we can. The outcome of that therefore is that today it was difficult to expect anything more than a fifth place, don't you think? Fernando gave it his all on his final lap, getting very close to the McLarens. Felipe probably paid the price for having only one set of new tyres left to run in Q3: if he'd had one more, he would have also managed to make it onto the third row. We go into this final race of a very long championship in the same way in which we have tackled the others: with concentration and determination aimed at getting the best possible result. The weather forecast for tomorrow is for a high chance of rain: in that case, anything can happen and it will be crucial to react properly to any eventualities that might arise."

Pat Fry, technical director "Honestly, there's nothing much new to say at the end of the final qualifying session of 2011. We are aware we have the third best car in the pack: the consequence of this is that, if nothing strange happens, then fifth place is the most logical result. Then, taking into account that we did not manage to find a perfect balance on the two cars and that here we have seen a Mercedes very much on the ball, we must look at this result as a glass that's half full, considering the gaps to Fernando of those directly ahead and behind him in the classification. Felipe had to use an additional set of softs in Q2, which definitely penalised him in Q3. Given the weather forecast, we can expect an eventful race. However, if it is run in the dry, then it will be interesting to see how the tyres behave, considering that the track conditions seem to change significantly even when there is not much of a big change in temperature. Our aim will be the same as ever: to fight for a place on the podium, while trying to help Fernando to reach second place in the Drivers' Championship."

Force India

Adrian Sutil - 8th "Another good qualifying session for me to carry on a strong weekend. I had a good feeling all afternoon and I really enjoyed the session because the balance of the car felt great. The only real issue was the fact that it was quite windy, but I was able to adjust my driving and it didn't catch me out. Eighth is a good place to start and I'm feeling confident for tomorrow - whether it's wet or dry. We just have to wait and see what the weather does, but I hope we can come away with a lot of points because I'm targeting ninth place in the drivers' championship. That would be a nice way to end the season."

Paul di Resta - 11th "I knew it was going to be quite a tough session because I was suffering with a top speed delta compared to Adrian's car and we've not been able to fully understand why that's the case. It meant I was giving away some time on the straights, which is a little frustrating. On the other hand, I have to be reasonably satisfied with P11 and the fact that I only just missed out on Q3. There's rain forecast for tomorrow and we know the car has been competitive in the wet so hopefully we can capitalise on that. And if it's dry we should be strong because our pace during long runs has looked pretty good."

Robert Fernley, deputy team principal "I think overall we can be pleased with today's qualifying result. We were confident of getting both cars in the top ten, but Paul has been suffering with a top speed issue since this morning, which we are still investigating. Without that issue we could well have seen both cars in Q3. As for Adrian, he delivered another excellent qualifying performance, setting consistent lap times and squeezing the maximum from the car. For tomorrow we're all looking at the weather forecast because there's a high risk of rain. Whatever happens we are well placed to come away with points for both cars to hopefully secure sixth place in the championship and get Adain in the top ten of the drivers' championship."

HRT

Vitantonio Liuzzi - 21st "The car was a lot better than yesterday, especially the balance. That was a good way to finish the season, in terms of qualifying, ahead of the Virgins. It's also a good result for me after all the problems we had in Abu Dhabi, so it's a great feeling to be back in business with a car that is working a hundred per cent allowing us to fight with the others. We showed that when things are working we can perform and that's what we're here to do. It could be a crazy race tomorrow as there is a chance of rain so we'll look forward to that."

Daniel Ricciardo - 22nd "In the morning we improved the overall setup and the qualifying session started quite well. With the first set of tyres and I was pretty happy with the balance. I thought we could really improve with the second set and made some changes to help try and achieve this but for whatever reason it didn't happen. We're in front of the Virgins which is good but I didn't improve on the second set of tyres which is frustrating because we could've achieved an even better result. Now we have to look ahead, think of tomorrow's race and try to do a better job."

Colin Kolles, team principal "Both drivers did a very good job today in qualifying. It has been our best qualifying session this season. I think we could have done even better if the cars would have been released in the right time frame in order to avoid traffic and to give the drivers the maximum laps. We are ahead of both Virgins and closer than ever to Lotus which is very positive and this reflects the improved performance of the car in the last races. It seems that the chances of rain for tomorrow's race are quite high so we have to be ready for that too and try to finish the season on a good note."

Lotus

Heikki Kovalainen - 19th "That is a great way to end qualifying for the season, one of the really good laps. I've had a lot of good sessions this year but that really stands out as one of the best. Jarno has been strong here all weekend and I was just behind him after the first runs so I had to really pull out everything to beat him. We made a couple of adjustments to the tyres and it paid off with that final lap with seconds left on the clock. We've also finished here closer to the opposition than we have all season, and even though it's a shorter lap here it's still a very good sign that we've found quite a bit of time with the new rear wing and I think that will help us again tomorrow. The forecast looks like rain and that always makes it interesting around here, so I think whatever happens it'll be a good Sunday, and hopefully a great way to end the season."

Jarno Trulli - 20th "I'm reasonably pleased with how it went today. The second set of tyres weren't as good as the first and even though I improved my time I still couldn't really push - I've had a pretty good weekend so far but still haven't found a balance I'm really happy with, but the main thing is we've increased the gap to the cars behind us and moved closer to the teams directly ahead."

Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer "That was a strong end to qualifying for this season. This morning we were having some issues getting the pace out of the soft tyres but this afternoon we turned that around and Heikki in particular got everything he could out of the car. Jarno was a little less happy with the balance but for me this is a good way to finish qualifying this year. Throughout the second half of the season we have moved closer to the group in front and that was particularly evident today, so the aim for tomorrow is clear - have a strong race and give ourselves a successful last race of 2011."

Tony Fernandes, team principal "What a great way to end the last qualifying session for Team Lotus. We were within a second of cars right up to 11th place, and just over 0.4 off Williams, so to bring to an end our qualifying for 2011, having made up that amount of time, is a real achievement. People forget that we do not have KERS this year. If we had KERS, as we do next season, would clearly be fighting in the midfield, so I am very happy with how far we have come in such a short amount of time. Our next qualifying session will be as Caterham F1 Team and that is a whole new chapter for us, something we are all very excited about and if we can maintain the progress we have shown in our first two years we will be right on course to achieve our long-term goals."

McLaren

Jenson Button - 3rd "All in all, Q2 was a bit nerve-wracking for me - but enjoyable in the end because I haven't managed to get past Q2 here in Brazil since 2005! So, as I say, it was satisfying to get into the top 10. In Q3, the car was working well too: balance-wise, I think the car was as good as we were going to get it.

"My quick lap was pretty ragged. I was pretty aggressive on the throttle, which you have to be to be fast around here. That's not normally my style, but it was definitely quick and in fact I crossed the line thinking I'd be farther up the grid than I eventually was. But that was because the two guys in front of me did a great job too.

"If it rains here tomorrow, as we're told it may well do, then it'll almost certainly pour down - and that's bound to make things very tricky. Still, this place lends itself to good overtaking - over the years there have been some great moves into Turns One and Four for example - so I think everything is well set for Formula 1 to put on a fantastic show tomorrow."

Lewis Hamilton - 4th "Jenson was massively quick today. I ended up a couple of tenths away from him, so clearly I could have gone a bit faster, but the fact is that although I didn't make any mistakes on my best lap I just wasn't quite quick enough on the day. While that's inevitably a little disappointing for me personally, Jenson's pace is very encouraging for the team. We have reason to be optimistic about tomorrow too: we're both on the second row, and we can definitely mount a strong challenge from there.

"I don't think we're quite there in terms of race pace in the dry, but hopefully we'll be there if it's wet. Whatever happens though, it's going to be a tough, long race; and if the weather is wet or changeable, as predicted, then it's going to be very interesting indeed. Interlagos is a place that makes you feel inspired as a racing driver: it's Ayrton Senna's homeground, and the Brazilian fans are unbelievably passionate. I've started fourth here a few times before [in 2008 and 2010], so I hope four is a good number for me. Let's hope we can turn it into something even better tomorrow!"

Martin Whitmarsh, team principal "Perhaps we didn't quite get the best out of the Option tyre in Q3 this afternoon - it could have been a tyre pressure issue although we're not yet sure about that - but we still put both our cars on the second row which is a pretty decent result. Jenson nailed a particularly impressive lap to end up in third place - his best qualifying performance ever at Interlagos.

"Lewis delivered a very good lap too, just two-tenths shy of Jenson's best. He experimented with driving two flying laps in Q3 - a fast-ish one followed by a really hot one in an attempt to get more out of the Option - but in the event it didn't appear to confer any benefit over the conventional one-flying-lap approach adopted by Jenson.

"Looking forward to tomorrow, it may well rain - and, if it does, the race will surely be incident-packed and therefore unpredictable. We geared both our cars with the probability of a wet race in mind, in fact. But, rain or no rain, Jenson and Lewis are both hungry to notch up Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' seventh victory of the season, and we're confident that both their race cars will be fully competitive on the day."

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg - 6th "That was a good qualifying session today. We saved a set of option tyres for the race, and we qualified ahead of one of the Ferraris which has always been my goal during the season. So I'm quite pleased to be starting from sixth place tomorrow. I was maybe a little too slow on my out lap in Q3 so my tyres didn't work perfectly on my fast lap, and that's why I wasn't as quick as in Q2. I will push to gain a good result tomorrow for the team who have done a great job over the whole season."

Michael Schumacher - 10th "The forecast says there is a high probability for rain during the race. With this in mind, we have kept all of our options open for tomorrow and we had a strategic approach to qualifying today. Still we need to find out why we weren't able to match our times from this morning. There will be a lot of data checking now, so that tomorrow it will be very different and we can attack for some points."

Ross Brawn, team principal "We had a reasonable final qualifying session of the season today. There was a threat of rain throughout, which meant we ran slightly earlier than we ultimately needed to in some of the sessions to be on the safe side. Nico's run in Q2 was very impressive, and that performance potential augurs well for the race. Michael took a measured approach to Q3, in order to save a new set of tyres, and he is in a good position strategically. We know how good he has been on the first lap this year, so we're looking forward to finding out what will be possible in the race. Rain is still forecast for tomorrow but the same was true of today, so we are working with a measure of uncertainty. I'll know it's raining when the top of my head gets wet..."

Norbert Haug, head of motorsport "Nico looked strong in Q2 when he set the second fastest time, which was about half a second quicker than his Q3 time later on. The second row of the grid, instead of the third, could have been possible today for him. Nevertheless, we should be in good shape for the race tomorrow when rain is predicted, which could mix up the field a bit. We still need to investigate what happened to Michael, as he was not happy with his car and tyre combination after looking strong during all three practice sessions. In tomorrow's final race of the season, both Nico and Michael will be aiming for a respectable result, similar to what we achieved in recent races."

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel - 1st "It's pretty special to get the record. Nigel obviously took three or four races less to achieve it, but nevertheless it's been an incredible year for us and an incredible journey and it's not yet over, we've got another chapter tomorrow and I'm very happy. It's hard to believe. I didn't feel that happy yesterday, but this morning I was much happier with the car and how it felt, it was much more to my liking and I was able to go from there and improve to get the pole. You know what you can do and the time you should be able to get ahead of the lap, but when you cross the line - you know if you have done it or not, without looking at the time. There wasn't much left today and that gives extreme satisfaction - and it gets even better when the engineer comes on the radio and tells you you've done it."

Mark Webber - 2nd "Qualifying was a good effort today from the whole team. It was very close with Sebastian, he did a great lap again, but there wasn't much between us. It was a good session today and we know there's going to be some weather coming in, which will mix things up a bit. That's very good for the people at home watching on TV, but it means a few grey hairs for us sitting in the cockpit. I'm looking forward to the race, it's a good challenge here and it would be great to finish the season with a good result."

Christian Horner, team principal "An awesome achievement by Sebastian and the team today. It's a new record in Formula One, which is a small piece of history for Sebastian and is thoroughly deserved. He shared the record with Nigel for two weeks and he now has some fairly illustrious names behind him, so a great performance. A great performance also from Mark Webber today to lock out the front row ahead of what I'm sure will be a really exciting final Grand Prix of 2011."

Renault

Bruno Senna - 9th "I'm very happy with that. It was not what I was expecting when the weekend started but it's good news. We knew the car had good potential here, but we just weren't sure the level of that potential - the R31 behaved very well today! In qualifying 2, the team put a good car together and we did a great job. It's a shame we had used tyres going into Q3 because we could have had an even better result. Having said that, being in Q3 was a victory in itself."

Vitaly Petrov - 15th "I'm naturally disappointed with my position because we have been improving the car step by step throughout the weekend and we thought there was more to come from it. We changed the car set-up quite a lot to accommodate for the change in temperature between FP3 and qualifying. As for qualifying itself, I didn't actually feel I made many mistakes; I had quite a quick lap at the end of Q1 but then I lost some grip on my lap in Q2, which left me where it did."

Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi - 16th "Overall, the weekend here is a bit tricky for us. We worked on improving the car's balance in every practice session and it got better, but it wasn't a big enough step to find the proper grip to be able to attack. I was really fighting on every lap. It was tight to get into Q2 because already in Q1 it was difficult to warm up the tyres. However, tomorrow a lot will depend on the weather conditions and we will see what we can do."

Sergio Pérez - 17th "It was a disappointing qualifying with the outcome that the Toro Rosso cars, our direct competitors, are in front of us. The main problem for me was that the car was so inconsistent: every lap was different, and I couldn't get temperature into the tyres. However, we will not give up. If we get mixed weather conditions tomorrow, anything can happen."

Peter Sauber, team principal "After qualifying, Toro Rosso is in front of our cars, but the race is tomorrow and we will fight hard in the race to turn this around."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, head of track engineering "This is obviously not the result we wanted, but it looks as if this was the limit today. In the end, both our drivers were at the same level. We had a trouble-free session, but the performance just didn't allow us to finish higher up on the grid. For tomorrow there is a high chance of rain, and we will definitely be ready to make up ground in the race."

Toro Rosso

Jaime Alguersuari - 13th "P13 and P14 on the grid is not so bad for the team. I am pleased to be ahead of Sauber on the grid, but the points are only given out tomorrow, when we can expect a chaotic race because it is meant to rain. The key in those conditions will be not to do anything stupid, nor take too many risks, stay calm and then finish the race. The track conditions have changed a lot even from this morning to this session, but if it rains that evolution won't continue and it should be an interesting race."

Sebastien Buemi - 14th "I am not happy with the result, even if I feel I did the best I could this afternoon. However, we did not have a good preparation for qualifying, as I was unable to run in the morning. Added to the fact I did not drive in FP1, because Jean-Eric was in my car on Friday morning, I've really had very few laps so far this weekend. We must learn from these mistakes to ensure we don't make them again. As for tomorrow's race, anything is possible, because I think our car is quite competitive, so I am hopeful of having a good afternoon."

Laurent Mekies, chief engineer "The day did not start well for us, as Sebastien was unable to complete a single timed lap in the morning, because of an hydraulic problem. It meant that, in qualifying, he had to adapt immediately to quite a different car to the one he drove yesterday, because of the choices we made since then from a set-up point of view. He tried to get into a rhythm as quickly as possible, but with the field being so tight, everything matters and clearly he paid the price for us not having done a better job this morning. Jaime's position is a fairly accurate indication of our level of competitiveness, as he is three thousandths of a second away from twelfth place, which is where the car belongs here today. He also did a good job so far this weekend in adapting to the car, as we changed his set-up quite a few times. The threat of rain which was falling two kilometres from the track added to the sense of urgency in the session, making it quite exciting. I think we are in a decent enough position to do a good job tomorrow, when it will be up to us to make it happen."

Virgin

Timo Glock - 24th "A bit of a disappointing Saturday I would say. The car was bad to drive this morning - suddenly from one run to another it had no stability any more. So it was difficult to go into qualifying with confidence, even though in the first run the car felt okay. I got a safe lap in then I tried to push on the second set of tyres. I had a very good first three corners but then one of the Toro Rosso's came out of the pits right in front of me and just stayed there during his out lap, so I couldn't go quicker and lost some time. It's a shame as I had to cool the tyres down before doing another lap, but the tyres are never as good as they are in the first lap, at least for me this weekend. So we have to start last, which is very disappointing, but we have to see what we can do tomorrow. Maybe the weather helps us a bit but in general it's a shame."

Jérôme D'Ambrosio - 23rd "It wasn't a bad qualifying but honestly it wasn't the best one either. I had a better feeling with the car this morning - I lost performance between this morning and qualifying. We need to have a look and see what is happening. I lost a bit of time in sector two on my best lap. As I say, it wasn't perfect but it's not bad and we'll push hard tomorrow to try and fight with the HRTs. If it rains tomorrow, the most important thing will be to stay on track as anything can happen in Brazil when it's wet."

John Booth, team principal "A disappointing afternoon for the team and not what we hoped for going into this weekend. Timo had struggled with the balance of his car this morning and so needed to do some significant changes for qualifying, which is far from desirable although his balance did improve as a result. Unfortunately Timo's second run was disturbed by Buemi on what would have been his quickest lap and this was unfortunate. Jerome had a good morning and he was very pleased with his lap in FP3, which even before correcting for fuel was much better than his lap in Q1 which was plagued by oversteer. At some points today the weather did look like it would play a part in the proceedings, however this was not the case. Looking to tomorrow again, the threat of rain is there and we will be looking to gain back the places on the grid to finish the season as strongly as we can."

Williams

Rubens Barrichello - 12th "I feel great! I'm so glad that I put in a good lap because I have lots of family here this weekend. Also for the team and for the fans, it really felt like they were pushing me on which was an amazing feeling. I have to drive 71 laps like that tomorrow but we have the best chance now so let's hope for a good one!"

Pastor Maldonado - 18th "We're a bit on the back foot with P18. We didn't find the best balance on the option tyre and so didn't get a clean lap in. I will need to make up lots of ground in the race but after doing that in Abu Dhabi, I'm optimistic I can do it again here."

Mark Gillan, chief operations engineer "This morning's final practice went well and with further set-up work the general balance and pace of the car improved steadily through the session. Going into qualifying, the threat of rain increased pushing us to run earlier than we normally would have done. Rubens progressed into Q2 but unfortunately Pastor didn't get a clean lap and finished P18. Rubens had a good, clean lap on his new set of soft tyres in Q2 to finish a credible P12."

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