SAO PAULO — Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel set the record for most poles in a season, capturing his 15th at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday to break Nigel Mansell’s 19-year record.
Vettel finished in 1 minute, 11.918 seconds at the 2.6-mile Interlagos track. The 24-year-old German drew even ith Mansell after winning his 14th pole at the Abu Dhabi GP two weeks ago.
“This is really special,” he said. “It’s different from the other poles.”
Vettel parked his car and extended his finger to show who was No. 1 again, his trademark celebration.
“I put everything in that last lap,” he said. “It was very emotional when I crossed the line. It was all I had. I gave it all.”
Mansell set the record with Williams in a 16-race season in 1992, when he also won nine races to win his only F1 drivers’ title. He failed to start from the pole only at the Canadian GP and at the Hungarian GP that year. He had six straight poles to start the season and five consecutive to finish it.
Vettel broke the record in 19 races. He failed to win the pole only in Spain, England, Germany and South Korea. His worst starting position was third, in Germany.
“There is no secret, once we go to qualifying we all seem to enjoy it,” Vettel said. “Qualifying is all about putting everything that you have and that the car has in one lap. It’s like a rush, I really enjoy that.”
The German had been trying to avoid talking about the record, saying he wouldn’t sacrifice his race performance.
“There was quite some talk before this weekend about this particular record,” he said. “The best thing was not to think about it.”
Vettel’s Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, was second with a lap of 1:12.099. Jenson Button of McLaren was third in 1:12.283. Teammate Lewis Hamilton — won the last race in Abu Dhabi after a tire failure forced Vettel to retire on the first lap — will start fourth with a time of 1:12.480. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso will be fifth with Ferrari.
Vettel dominated the season with 11 victories, and the title has been his since the Japanese GP. About the only thing at stake in Brazil is second place. Button, Alonso and Webber still have a chance to finish runner-up. Button is 10 points ahead of Alonso and 18 ahead of Webber.
Red Bull has already won the constructors’ championship, with McLaren finishing second and Ferrari third.
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