LIVE F1 BRAZIL: + Five Way Title battle explained

FIVE-WAY TITLE BATTLE EXPLAINED
1 ALONSO 231pts
2 WEBBER 220pts
3 HAMILTON 210pts
4 VETTEL 206pts
5 BUTTON 189pts

If Alonso wins in Brazil, he will be champion unless Webber is higher than fourth

If Alonso is second, he will be champion unless Webber is higher than eighth, Hamilton higher than fourth or Vettel wins

If Alonso is third, he will be champion unless Webber finishes in the top 10, Hamilton in the top four and Vettel in the top three

If Alonso does not finish on the podium, it will go to Abu Dhabi

Button can only stay in contention if he finishes first or second but is out if Alonso finishes in the top six or if Webber is in the top two

Vettel must beat Alonso on track to stay in contention


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Qualifying:


Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg took pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix in a frantic last-lap scramble on dry-weather tyres on a damp track.

The German drove superbly to stun the title contenders and throw a wildcard into the championship battle.

Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso - the four main championship hopefuls - will line up right behind rookie Hulkenberg.

Jenson Button's hopes dimmed further after he qualified 11th.

Hulkenberg, 23, whose future at Williams is in doubt, stole a march by fitting dry-weather tyres before the drivers from the top three teams, just after team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

But Hulkenberg performed brilliantly to set two laps fast enough for pole, and the big names, out at the same time, failed to beat him. His best lap - one minute 14.470 seconds - was more than a second faster than Vettel's, a 1:15.519. Barrichello was sixth, 1.733secs slower than his team-mate.

Webber was just over 0.1secs behind his team-mate, with Hamilton, fourth in his McLaren, 0.228secs behind Vettel, and Alonso 0.242secs adrift of the Englishman.

Hulkenberg said: "My first pole position is an emotional and hopefully historic moment as I want to be in F1 for many, many years.

"I am still shaking from the thrill and I just want to enjoy it and get on with the job tomorrow.

"It was a pretty good lap with no mistakes. It was still tricky out there. There were wet parts, particularly the last corner. But that lap was spot on."

Vettel said: "First I thought I had missed pole by 0.1secs but then I saw there was another digit and that it was a four instead of a five."

Webber added: "He gave us all a driving lesson out there, and he found a different race track from the rest of us."

Asked about starting the race ahead of all the title contenders, Hulkenberg said: "The best thing would be to drive off into the distance, but obviously that is not going to happen."

His race engineer, Tom McCullough, denied that Hulkenberg had been a wet-weather set-up, which would have given him an advantage in qualifying, but a handicap in the forecasted dry race.

"This is our fully dry set-up," McCullough told BBC Sport. "If you look at the data, he's very committed, especially in the high-speed corners. He's very good in changeable conditions.

"Hopefully, with track position, we can fight with the Red Bulls, McLaren and Ferrari, but good points is what we are after. Anything else is a bonus."

It is the first pole position for Williams since the 2005 European Grand Prix, when Nick Heidfeld took the position, exactly 100 races ago.

Barrichello was ahead of Renault's Robert Kubica, Mercedes' Michael Schumacher - unusually ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg - Ferrari's Felipe Massa and the second Renault of Vitaly Petrov.

Alonso heads into the race as championship leader, 11 points ahead of Webber, with Hamilton a further 10 points adrift.

Vettel is 25 points - one win - behind Alonso with only 50 remaining in the final two races here and in Abu Dhabi next weekend. Button is fifth, 42 points behind.

Alonso was calm about being last out of the top four championship hopefuls.

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Alonso satisfied with qualifying performance

"In qualifying like this you can never make any predictions or expectations," the Spaniard said.

"We were struggling with intermediates and with dry tyres it was a difficult circuit to play.

"My last lap was a little bit quicker (initially), but I lost some 10ths at one of the corners. The dry line was not very wide, and if you go off it, you lose a lot of time.

"I guess maybe in those conditions only Nico did a perfect lap, all the others we lose a little bit here and a little bit there. It is the way it is.

"The championship is not really in my mind. You can get some strange results but we are concentrating on increasing the gap and if we give away points, making sure it is not too many."

Button came as close as he has yet to admitting that his hopes are over and that his role now is to support Hamilton.

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Button struggled to find balance

He said: "It has been pretty tough all weekend. The car was actually better in qualifying. But I have qualified further down here and finished all right. It is hard to play a supporting role from there."

Team-mate Hamilton was slightly more upbeat about his fourth place, saying: "It is better than nothing. I have often started fourth here, it is not my favourite, but I can't complain.

"In qualifying I just got held up on that last corner which is frustrating, but we are still in the fight. We have got good race pace and straight speed and I'm happy I can battle in there."

Heavy overnight rain had left the track wet in the morning, and it continued to rain intermittently until it abated shortly before the start of practice at 1100 local time (1300 GMT).

It was raining at the start of first qualifying but it soon abated, and the track dried through the session to the point that the drivers were able to put on slick tyres for the all-important last runs in the third session.

Alonso set the pace in the first, his lap of 1:18.987 just edging out Webber and Vettel, but the Red Bulls were at the front in the second session, Webber again ahead of Vettel.

Kubica was third in Q2, ahead of Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Alonso.

Hulkenberg's pole was the first for a Cosworth engine since Barrichello in a Stewart at the 1999 French Grand Prix. After qualifying, Rosberg complained to the stewards that he had been blocked by Sebastien Buemi, claiming this had prevented him from reaching Q3, but after scrutiny the complaint was dismissed.

Toro Rosso's Beumi qualified in 15th but is set to start from 20th because of a five-place grid penalty he incurred at the Korean Grand Prix.

Article from the BBC F1 Website, no copyright infringement intended

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Button escapes unhurt from Brazil gun gang attack

Formula 1 champion Jenson Button has praised the quick actions of his police driver after armed men threatened him in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Button called him a "legend" for fleeing through traffic after six men brandishing machine guns approached.

Button, his manager and trainer all escaped unharmed as they were driven to their hotel after practice for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

Brazil's major cities have a bad record for serious crimes of violence.

"Would-be assailants made an attempt to approach the car that was carrying Jenson Button" on Saturday, said the statement from McLaren.

Button, 33, was quickly driven away by an armed policeman in the reinforced armoured vehicle provided by McLaren.

Button's manager Richard Goddard and trainer Mike Collier were also in the vehicle.

Extra security

Mr Goddard said: "We were about three or four minutes away from the circuit when the incident took place.

"I would suggest there were more than four or five guys, something along those lines, who emerged from a block of flats.

"I initially saw one guy carrying this piece of wood, a baseball bat kind of thing, but I didn't spot the one who had a gun until someone pointed it out.

"It was pulled, and that was it really. You didn't really have time to think about what was happening.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

There are parts of Sao Paulo which are extremely violent, and [the city] has extremes of great wealth and extreme poverty”

End Quote Murray Walker Formula 1 commentator

"You hear about these kind of things in Sao Paulo, and because they don't come home to roost, you don't think about them. But when it almost happens to you then it's fairly worrying."

He said they were lucky to have a police driver on hand to force his way through the traffic and get them out of what could have been "quite a frightening situation".

A McLaren spokesperson said: "The police driver of Jenson's vehicle reacted swiftly and, using avoidance techniques, rapidly forced his way through the traffic, taking Jenson and the other occupants of the car immediately away from any danger and back to their hotel."

The spokesperson added the Sao Paulo authorities had also acted efficiently and would provide additional security for Button and other team members on Sunday.
Previous attacks

BBC Formula 1 commentator David Croft said Button reported seeing six men all brandishing machine guns approach his car.

The reigning world champion, who will start 11th on the grid on Sunday, described his driver as an "absolute legend".

Three years ago members of Toyota's F1 team escaped a similar situation when they were also approached by gunmen, Mr Croft said.

Formula 1 commentator Murray Walker told the BBC that gunmen previously had attempted to attack him in the same area.

He said: "There are parts of Sao Paulo which are extremely violent, and [the city] has extremes of great wealth and extreme poverty."

He said parts of the circuit were close to favelas, or shanty towns, where there was a lot of deprivation.

He said: "I suspect that's where it happened to Jenson, and naturally the people who are in the favelas see these obviously very wealthy people driving away from the circuit and they know they've got a lot of money, and they know they've got watches and things on them and that's what they're after presumably."

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