Valtteri Bottas snatched pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix by just 0.038s from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, whilst champion elect Lewis Hamilton will start last after crashing out.
The session began with Hamilton heading out immediately as the threat of rain loomed, but as he began his first flying lap, he lost the rear of his Mercedes W08, spinning off into the barriers and damaging the front of his car.
That caused a brief red flag as his car was recovered, leaving the Briton to skulk off to the pitlane with no time against his name – meaning he starts dead last regardless of penalties for those ahead.
That left the pole shoot-out between Bottas, Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel claimed provisional pole on their first attempts but failed to improve second time round, unlike Bottas who did just enough to put himself ahead.
Raikkonen starts third, 0.216s slower than Bottas with Max Verstappen completing the second row.
His Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was fifth fastest, but with a massive grid penalty, he will drop to the back.
Sergio Perez was sixth ahead of Fernando Alonso, the two Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz, with local hero Felipe Massa completing the top ten – although they each move up a position with Esteban Ocon lining up tenth on Sunday's grid.
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