Nico Rosberg beats Lewis Hamilton to pole position in Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying

• Nico Rosberg on pole for Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday in Sao Paulo
• The German finished less than a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton
• It was a fifth straight pole position for Mercedes driver Rosberg
• Sebastian Vettel third and Valtteri Bottas, but the latter took a grid penalty
• Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso both eliminated in Q1 for McLaren 

By Jonathan Mcevoy For Mail Online

Published: 12:07 EST, 14 November 2015 | Updated: 16:58 EST, 14 November 2015

Nice work, Nico. Shame it’s too late.

The world championship is over and Nico Rosberg is finally moving through the gears. He took his fifth pole in succession to start Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix with a good chance of claiming his second consecutive victory. If he had started the season in this manner we might not be on the verge of our second dead rubber of three.

He was clinically quick over one lap, which he needed to be because the world champion, Lewis Hamilton, was hardly sluggish either. Neither man appeared to put a wheel thread out of place and it was Rosberg who finished eight-hundredths of a second ahead.

Nico Rosberg gives a thumbs up to the camera after his fifth consecutive pole position this season

Rosberg edged out team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix 

Rosberg will hope to continue his strong end-of-season form by securing a race win at Interlagos on Sunday

Hamilton, who will start second, was as sanguine as any man who only a few days earlier had pranged his £1.5million supercar could be. ‘My main job is done this year,’ he said. ‘Winning here in Brazil is not the important thing, but it is my target now. Last year I was strong in the race and I hope to carry it through.’

For Hamilton, this race holds significance, being the home track of his idol Ayrton Senna. And he has made history around this undulating circuit — snatching his first title on the last corner of the last lap of the 2008 season — but he has never won the grand prix here.

His hopes of doing so must remain strong, given that, other than in Mexico a fortnight ago, Rosberg has found it hard to convert pole positions into wins.Hamilton has now not taken pole since the Italian Grand Prix in September, a strange reversal of his imperious early season form over one lap.

Hamilton, who hasn't started from the front since Italy, was made to settle for second place on the grid

The world champion had an eventful week leading up to his journey to Brazil

Sebastian Vettel will begin the race in third place, a familiar position for him this season behind Mercedes

But despite missing out on pole, he did not drive, or speak like a man weighed down by the travails of his week: crashing his car at 3.30am on Tuesday, then complaining of a fever that delayed his arrival in Brazil.

‘Pleased with today,’ was Rosberg’s verdict after his sixth pole of the year. ‘I was playing catch-up a little bit earlier in the afternoon but then in the final session I really got going and got some good laps in.’

McLaren could at least laugh at themselves despite their cars going out in the first session.

Fernando Alonso managed just two laps before his Honda engine conked out on him again. So he found a deck chair and pretended to sunbathe as qualifying went on around him.Team-mate Jenson Button’s afternoon was also soon over.

The two men then climbed on to the podium, waving and smiling. It was a nice touch given that McLaren have not remotely looked likely to get there by conventional means during their season of doom.

Fernando Alonso was forced to retire in Q1 and will start the race from the back of the grid

Alonso took the time to enjoy the weather in Sao Paulo as he went for a spot of sunbathing

Alonso and Jenson Button (right) went and stood on the podium as a joke after being eliminated in Q1 

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