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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2015 57 FORMULA 1 Sport MERCEDES' Nico Rosberg will start Sunday's Formula 1 Grande Premio Petrobras do Brasil 2015 from pole position after topping qualif ying for a fifth successive round. In a grip- ping battle, Rosberg beat team mate Hamilton by just 0.078s around Interlagos, with Sebas- tian Vettel third for Ferrari. Williams' Valtteri Bottas took fourth, but will drop three grid places for overtaking under red f lags during Friday practice, while fifth went to the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was sixth ahead of Red Bull's Daniil Kv yat and the second Williams of Felipe Massa. Dan- iel Ricciardo took ninth, but loses ten grid places thanks to the new power unit on his Red Bull. Toro Rosso's Max Verstap- pen completed the top ten. The opening Q1 phase saw Hamilton set the pace from Rosberg, with Raikkonen and Vettel trailing. It was bad news for McLaren, as Fernando Alonso was told to stop imme- diately even before he had re- corded a time. Massa was lucky to get through, when his best lap was spoiled when country- man Felipe Nasr inadvertently blocked him in the Sauber - a misdemeanour which subse- quently resulted in a three-place grid penalty for the Brazilian. Right at the end Nasr's team mate Marcus Ericsson hoisted himself into Q2 at the expense of Pastor Maldonado, who was 16th for Lotus on 1m 13.385s. Jenson Button was 17th on 1m 13.425s, confirming McLaren' expectations of this being a tough venue for the Honda V6, and Alexander Rossi's car was working much better after a morning brake bias problem had been resolved. He headed Marussia team mate Will Ste- vens but only just, 1m 16.151s to 1m 16.283s. As 15 drivers were fighting it out on the track in Q2, the two McLaren pilots introduced a moment of levity as they hammed it up atop the podi- um. On track Hamilton headed Vettel and Rosberg, and Massa was very fortunate to squeak through into Q3 as fellow Bra- zilian Nasr was 11th on 1m 12.989s, just a tenth slower. Car- los Sainz was unable to follow Toro Rosso team mate Verstap- pen into Q3 with 1m 13.045s, as Force India's Sergio Perez (1m 13.147s), Ericsson (1m 13.233s) and Romain Gros- jean (1m 13.913s) also failed to progress. The Frenchman spun his Lotus on his penul- timate lap, when "something definitely happened." Could Hamilton hang on to take pole? Rosberg reasserted himself on their first runs in Q3, with 1m 11.461s to 1m 11.549s, a lock-up in Turn 10 costing Hamilton vital time. But Vettel was also untidy. Having been three-tenths off Hamilton in Q2, he was now double that off Rosberg, as Bottas headed Raikkonen and Ricciardo in fourth. Rosberg trimmed down to 1m 11.282s on his second run and again, Hamilton couldn't quite match that with 1m 11.360s. Behind them, Vettel retained third with a smooth- er 1m 11.804s as Bottas kept Raikkonen at bay with 1m 12.085s to 1m 12.144s. Hulkenberg put Force India sixth with 1m 12.265s as Kv- yat in the older-spec Renault- engined Red Bull took seventh on 1m 12.322s. As Massa recorded the eighth best time in the second Wil- liams with 1m 12.415s, Ric- ciardo was breathing down his neck with 1m 12.417s. Verstap- pen did only one run for Toro Rosso, rounding out the top 10 with 1m 12.739s. With Ricciardo's, Bottas' and Nasr's penalties taken into ac- count, the provisional grid thus reads: Rosberg, Hamilton; Vet- tel, Raikkonen; Hulkenberg, Kv yat; Bottas, Massa; Verstap- pen, Sainz; Perez, Ericsson; Nasr, Grosjean; Maldonado, Button; Rossi, Stevens; Ric- ciardo, Alonso. Rosberg secures fifth consecutive pole Pole sitter Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates in parc ferme at Formula One World Championship, Rd18, Brazilian Grand Prix, Qualifying, Interlagos, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Qualifying results - 2015 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. N. Rosberg Mercedes 01:11.282 12 2. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:11.360 12 3. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:11.804 16 4. V. Bottas Williams 01:12.085 18 5. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 01:12.144 16 6. N. Hulkenberg Force India 01:12.265 18 7. D. Kvyat Red Bull 01:12.322 20 8. F. Massa Williams 01:12.415 21 9. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:12.417 17 10. M. Verstappen Toro Rosso 01:12.739 15 11. F. Nasr Sauber 01:12.989 14 12. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 01:13.045 15 13. S. Perez Force India 01:13.147 13 14. M. Ericsson Sauber 01:13.233 14 15. R. Grosjean Lotus 01:13.913 11 16. P. Maldonado Lotus 01:13.385 5 17. J. Button McLaren 01:13.425 6 18. A. Rossi Manor 01:16.151 6 19. W. Stevens Manor 01:16.283 6 20. F. Alonso McLaren no time 2 Alonso admits to 'a lot of frustration' FERNANDO Alonso has admitted to "a lot of frustra- tion" after a technical issue ended his Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying session. Alonso, who had reverted to an older Honda engine after stopping in second practice, ground to a halt again in the early stages of Q1. Alonso watched the re- mainder of the session from a camping chair, before pos- ing for photos on the podium with team-mate Jenson But- ton. Alonso's early qualifying exit follows on from a first- lap retirement at the previ- ous Mexican Grand Prix, his seventh of the campaign. "Unfortunately, jokes aside, there is a lot of frustration at not being part of the race in Mexico, and not being part of qualifying here," Alonso explained to reporters in the Interlagos paddock. "We need to fix a lot of the problems and hopefully to- morrow we can race trouble- free. "Next year we need to learn from all of these problems and not repeat them any- more." Button was unable to pre- vent an eighth double Q1 exit of 2015 for McLaren in 17th. "I was actually a lot closer to P15 [the Q2 cut-off point] than I thought I would be, only around half a tenth, so it was much better," said But- ton, who will gain a place af- ter Daniel Ricciardo's engine penalty. "The car worked better, but deployment [from Honda's power unit] is a big issue."