Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position in Brazil in his last race for McLaren yesterday while Red Bull’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel qualified well ahead of Ferrari title rival Fernando Alonso.

Vettel will start the season-ending race in fourth place, a position good enough to secure his third title in a row if he keeps it in what promises to be a rain-lashed affair at Interlagos this afternoon (start: 5 p.m.).

The 25-year-old German is sure to move up a place soon enough in the race, with Australian team mate Mark Webber starting alongside in third place and in no doubt about what he will be expected to do.

“All in all we are in good shape and we have been competitive and we will see what we can do tomorrow,” said Vettel, who made a mistake on his first run in the final session.

“As soon as the lights go off I will try to attack the guys at the front. On top of that there might be things happening, with the weather forecast being what it is, so I won’t be looking left and right to be honest.”

Alonso, 13 points adrift of Vettel, has to finish on the podium to have any hope of taking his third title and the Spaniard has a mountain to climb from seventh place.

The Spanish driver qualified eighth but moved up a place when Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, who was sixth, was handed a 10-place penalty for missing a weighbridge in the second phase of qualifying.

The stewards handed Maldonado a reprimand for the offence but also imposed the grid drop because it was his third reprimand of the season.

Alonso can also count on the support of his Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa, who qualified fifth at his home circuit but is sure to let the title contender go past when the opportunity arises.

“Ninth in USA and eighth here so more or less as I expected,” Alonso told reporters.

“I will try to achieve the podiums which we achieved in Abu Dhabi and Austin from those positions.

“In the dry we are not competitive, but in the wet the car performs well sometimes and we are a little more comfortable.”

Today’s grid

1. L. Hamilton (McLaren) - 1:12.458
2. J. Button (McLaren) - 1:12.513
3. M. Webber (Red Bull) - 1:12.581
4. S. Vettel (Red Bull) - 1:12.760
5. F. Massa (Ferrari) - 1:12.987
6. P. Maldonado (Williams) - *1:13.174
7. N. Hulkenberg (Force India) - 1:13.206
8. F. Alonso (Ferrari) - 1:13.253
9. K. Raikkonen (Lotus) - 1:13.298
10. N. Rosberg (Mercedes) - 1:13.489
11. P. di Resta (Force India) - 1:14.121
12. B. Senna (Williams) - 1:14.219
13. S. Perez (Sauber) - 1:14.234
14. M. Schumacher (Mercedes) - 1:14.334
15. K. Kobayashi (Sauber) - 1:14.380
16. D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) - 1:14.574
17. J.E. Vergne (Toro Rosso) - 1:14.619
18. R. Grosjean (Lotus) - 1:16.967
19. V. Petrov (Caterham) - 1:17.073
20. H. Kovalainen (Caterham) - 1:17.086
21. T. Glock (Marussia) - 1:17.508
22. C. Pic (Marussia) - 1:18.104
23. N. Karthikeyan (HRT) - 1:19.576
24. P. de la Rosa (HRT) - 1:19.699

Note: Maldonado handed 10-place grid penalty.

Overall standings

Drivers
1. Vettel 273; 2. Alonso 260; 3. Raikkonen 206; 4. Hamilton 190; 5. Webber 167; 6. Button 163; 7. Massa 107; 8. Grosjean 96; 9. Rosberg 93; 10. Perez 66; 11. Kobayashi 58; 12. Huelkenberg 53; 13. Di Resta 46; 14. Maldonado 45; 15. Schumacher 43; 16. Senna 31; 17. Vergne 12; 18. Ricciardo 10.

Constructors
1. Red Bull 440; 2. Ferrari 367; 3. McLaren 353; 4. Lotus 302; 5. Mercedes 136; 6. Sauber 124; 7. Force India 99; 8. Williams 76; 9. Toro Rosso 22.