Nico Hulkenberg secured his first and only pole position in F1 career in 2010 Brazilian GP after being fastest in Williams FW32 in mixed conditions at Interlagos after beating both Red Bull drivers by more than a second.
After the dramatic first F1 race in Korea, where Alonso celebrated in rainy conditions and both Red Bull drivers didn’t finish, Alonso took the championship lead with 11 points more than Webber and 25 points more than Vettel.
The Brazilian GP qualifying were held in rainy conditions, but the track was drying fast and drivers used slick tyres in Q3.
Under such conditions, Nico Hulkenberg, who switched early to slick tyres, secured pole position with as many as 1.049 seconds ahead of Vettel and 1.167 seconds ahead of Webber.
Hulkenberg in his William FW32 did not have a chance against a faster cars in a dry race, so Red Bull drivers Vettel and Webber won easily and Alonso came third from the fifth on the grid and kept the lead in the championship.
Red Bull has secured the Constructors’ Championship with one race to go, but they also had a tough decision – to put all the cards on Webber, who had 14 points more than Vettel, or to let Vettel win ahead of Webber to have both drivers in the hunt in the Abu Dhabi final.
Red Bull finally decided not to interfere in the outcome of the race and let Vettel win while Alonso led with eight points more than Webber and 15 points more than Vettel.
“We’re the Constructor’s Champions 2010! Congratulations to everyone here and at Milton Keynes, this is their achievement,” Vettel said.
“This year it was a pleasure to drive this car, we had ups and downs, but we always tried to make the car faster.”
“Today we had a straightforward race without any problems.”
RESULTS
1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 71 | 1:33:11.803 | |
2 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 71 | 1:33:16.046 | 4.243 |
3 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 71 | 1:33:18.610 | 6.807 |
4 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren/Mercedes | 71 | 1:33:26.437 | 14.634 |
5 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Mercedes | 71 | 1:33:27.396 | 15.593 |
6 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 71 | 1:33:47.123 | 35.320 |
7 | 3 | M.Schumacher | Mercedes | 71 | 1:33:55.259 | 43.456 |
8 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams/Cosworth | 70 | 1:33:35.966 | 1 lap |
9 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 70 | 1:33:37.144 | 1 lap |
10 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber/Ferrari | 70 | 1:33:37.615 | 1 lap |
11 | 17 | J.Alguersuari | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 70 | 1:33:44.982 | 1 lap |
12 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 70 | 1:33:45.492 | 1 lap |
13 | 16 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 70 | 1:33:58.288 | 1 lap |
14 | 9 | R.Barrichello | Williams/Cosworth | 70 | 1:33:58.320 | 1 lap |
15 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 70 | 1:33:59.032 | 1 lap |
16 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 70 | 1:33:59.733 | 1 lap |
17 | 22 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber/Ferrari | 70 | 1:34:00.983 | 1 lap |
18 | 19 | H.Kovalainen | Lotus/Cosworth | 69 | 1:34:17.620 | 2 laps |
19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus/Cosworth | 69 | 1:34:18.462 | 2 laps |
20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin/Cosworth | 69 | 1:34:24.680 | 2 laps |
21 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT/Cosworth | 69 | 1:34:25.912 | 2 laps |
22 | 20 | Christian Klien | HRT/Cosworth | 65 | 1:34:26.440 | 6 laps |
(23) | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin/Cosworth | 62 | 1:33:44.729 | DNF |
(16) | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India/Mercedes | 49 | 1:04:23.913 | Spun off |