Full Throttle

Felipe Massa will start Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix from pole position after Lewis Hamilton qualified a surprisingly lowly fourth on the grid.

Hamilton finished half a second down on his world title rival at the end of qualifying at Interlagos.

On home soil, Massa thrilled his army of fans by clinching pole for the third successive year, with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Massa’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen also ahead of Hamilton.

Massa’s hat-trick of pole positions put him in the record books as the only driver to achieve that feat at Interlagos, even including Brazilian legend Aryton Senna.

Massa has a seven-point gap to overhaul in Sunday’s Grand Prix with Hamilton needing to just finish in fifth position to become world champion.

23-year-old Hamilton does have McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen behind him in fifth place and ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso.

Sebastian Vettel will start in seventh on the grid for Toro Rosso, while Nick Heidfeld is in eighth in his BMW Sauber ahead of the second Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais and Toyota’s Timo Glock.

Massa will have his home crowd passionately supporting him on Sunday, while Hamilton was jeered by the Brazilian fans throughout his qualifying session.

Another home driver, Nelson Piquet, could only finish in 11th in front of his own fans, with the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and David Coulthard either side of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica.

Coulthard has now qualified for a Grand Prix for the final time as he will end his career on Sunday after 15 seasons and 246 races.

Jenson Button was again disappointing down in 17th, with his session ending with his Honda parked at the Arquibancadas turn due to a mechanical issue.