Barrichello wins pole for hometown Brazilian GP

SAO PAULO — Rubens Barrichello won the pole position for his hometown Brazilian Grand Prix, emerging from Saturday’s chaotic, rain-lashed qualifying as the only Formula One contender in the top 10 on the grid.

Brawn GP teammate and championship leader Jenson Button will start in 14th place and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel is 16th after qualifying was interrupted twice by red flags and delayed several times because of treacherous conditions.

The 37-year-old Barrichello clocked 1 minute, 19.576 seconds, 0.092 ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber and 0.336 in front of Force India’s Adrian Sutil. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli will start fourth after a lap of 1:20.097, and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen sixth after posting 1:20.168.

It was Barrichello’s second pole at the Brazilian GP, which he is trying to win for the first in his 17-year F1 career. He is expected to be boosted by about 70,000 fans on Sunday.

“I’m very, very happy,” Barrichello said. “It was great to see the people waited to see it. I was expecting people to leave but I’m very happy they waited.”

Button can clinch the title by finishing third or better in Sunday’s race at the 2.6-mile Interlagos track.

He has 85 points, 14 more than Barrichello and 16 more than Vettel going into the season’s next to last race. A victory is worth 10 points, and second through eighth are 8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

A fifth-place will be enough for Button if Barrichello fails to win, and the Briton can even lift the trophy by finishing out of the points as long as Barrichello and Vettel also falter.

More rain is forecast for Sunday, though it wasn’t expected to be as bad as it was on Saturday.

Qualifying began under heavy rain, which flooded parts of the track and dropped visibility to near zero.

The session was red-flagged less than five minutes after it started because Ferrari driver Giancarlo Fisichella spun and stopped in the middle of a corner in a dangerous position. Officials waited about 15 minutes to restart the session until conditions improved.

The second session also was delayed for nearly 20 minutes as it continued to rain heavily, and it was stopped less than three minutes after it restarted because Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed hard after spinning out of control in turn one.

It took more than an hour before the cars returned to the track in slightly better conditions.

Button couldn’t find a good setup in the rain and failed to keep up with Barrichello’s pace. The Briton was eliminated in the second qualifying session.

“I couldn’t do anything with the car,” Button said. “I don’t want to be so far back, but at least Vettel is behind me.”

Vettel’s chances of winning the title took a big hit when he failed to advance from the first qualifying session. The German’s Japanese GP victory two weeks ago kept him in the title hunt, and he needed a good starting position on Sunday to keep his hopes alive. He has to win the second-to-last race of the season and hope Button finishes sixth or worse.

“I confess that I’m frustrated, but tomorrow, when I enter the grid, I’ll concentrate on the race,” Vettel said. “I’m hoping for really crazy weather tomorrow, varying between dry and wet. That’s the only way I’ll have a chance in the race.”

Defending champion Lewis Hamilton also struggled and failed to advance from the first session. He will start 18th in the 20-car grid.

In one of his attempts to improve his time, Hamilton ran off the track and just barely kept control as his car skidded across huge puddles on the infield grass, splashing water everywhere.

“Today was one of the worst qualifying sessions I can remember,” he said.

If Button is able to clinch the title, he will give Britain back-to-back F1 titles for the first time since Graham Hill won in 1968 and Jackie Stewart in 1969. Hamilton won with McLaren last year, also at the Brazilian GP.

It would also mark the fifth consecutive time the championship is decided at the Brazilian GP, even though it is not the season-ending race this year. The final race will be in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 1.

After qualifying Saturday, race Sunday

at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos)

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Lap length: 4.309 miles

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (23) Rubens Barrichello, Mercedes-Benz FO108W, 194.938 mph.

2. (14) Mark Webber, Renault RS27, 194.713.

3. (20) Adrian Sutil, Mercedes-Benz FO108W, 194.119.

4. (9) Jarno Trulli, Toyota RVX-09, 193.67.

5. (4) Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 056, 193.499.

6. (12) Sebastien Buemi, Ferrari 056, 193.301.

7. (16) Nico Rosberg, Toyota RVX-09, 193.118.