SAO PAULO – Sebastian Vettel was fastest on a wet and treacherous Interlagos track Saturday, taking the pole position for the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
The German, who has already wrapped up a fourth straight Formula One title, can equal Michael Schumacher's 2004 mark of 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in 1952-53.
The Red Bull driver was more than a half second ahead of Nico Rosberg of Mercedes in a rain-delayed qualifying session.
"It's great to start from pole," Vettel said. "Very happy with the laps I had in the end in these tricky conditions. Hopefully we can carry that momentum into the race."
Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished third. Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, who is leaving F1 after Sunday's race, will start fourth. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes fifth.
It was Vettel's ninth pole of the year and 45th of his career. His margin over the rest of the field reflected his dominance this season.
"It's great in these conditions to get it all right," he said. "We had very little practice and still got the car where we wanted it to be in the end, so very happy."
Rosberg, who had led both practices Friday, said there was nothing he could have done to catch his countryman.
"Surprised about the gap to Sebastian, that's very big," Rosberg said. "Definitely it would have been difficult, even getting everything perfect, to come close to him."
Heavy rain in Sao Paulo forced racing's governing body to delay the final round of qualifying by 40 minutes because of all the water on the track.
It rained during all three practice sessions, but never as hard as it did during qualifying. Nearly all of the drivers went out immediately after the track opened to try to set a time before the weather deteriorated.
Just before the end of the second round of qualifying, McLaren's Sergio Perez of Mexico crashed hard into a retaining wall after losing the back end of his car over a curb and spinning across the track. He was not injured.
McLaren drivers, with a last chance for a podium finish, didn't make it past the second round — Jenson Button was 15th and Perez 14th. Home-crowd favorite Felipe Massa will start ninth in his final race with Ferrari before joining Williams.
"I'll give everything I have to make sure I can finish my last race with Ferrari on a high note," he said
Webber, moving to sports cars after F1, was fastest in the final practice.
"The car felt slow and I was struggling for grip," he said. "It was tricky for all of us, but we're on the second row and we can still do something from there."
Still at stake in Interlagos is second place in the constructors' championship. With 43 points up for grabs, Mercedes is 15 points ahead of Ferrari and 33 ahead of Lotus, which will have Romain Grosjean starting sixth and teammate Heikki Kovalainen 11th. Red Bull easily clinched the title.
It will be the last race before F1 adopts new engine rules that are expected to revamp the series next year. The Brazilian GP also marks the last race before driver changes at some of F1's top teams.
World champion Kimi Raikkonen of Finland is leaving Lotus to replace Massa, who is taking over the seat of Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado at Williams. McLaren is replacing Perez with rookie Kevin Magnussen of Denmark. Australian Daniel Ricciardo, from Red Bull's sister team, Toro Rosso, will fill Webber's seat.
___
Follow Tales Azzoni at http://twitter.com/tazzoni
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.