Formula 1 2016: Qualifying results for Brazilian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes will sit on pole for Sunday’s Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix from the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil. With the pole position, Mercedes has broken the record for pole-sitters in a single season.

Hamilton took provisional pole with his very first lap, putting a 1:10.860 on the board, while Nico Rosberg finished just behind him outside of the 1:10 mark. After the first run of laps, some drivers reported a light drizzle coming in, but all the drivers got out for another go at it.

Romain Grosjean waited for the rest of the pack to go and finished it just before the drivers went out for their second.

After the second group of laps, Hamilton improved on his time with a 1:10.736, while teammate Rosberg went just over a 10th slower putting himself in second place on the grid. Behind Rosberg was Kimi Räikkönen of Ferrari to round out the top three. Behind him was Max Verstappen of Red Bull splitting the Ferraris as Sebastian Vettel was behind him.

Behind Vettel was Verstappen’s teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, followed by Grosjean of Haas, Nico Hülkenberg of Force India, Sergio Pérez of Force India and Fernando Alonso of McLaren.

Felipe Massa and Hülkenberg put themselves in the top 10 as time expired in the session, but both Pérez of Force India and Grosjean of Haas also finished well and pushed Massa out, along with Esteban Gutiérrez of Haas and Valtteri Bottas of Williams, who had also briefly put themselves in the top 10 with their final runs.

So the final elimination tally for the second session was Bottas, Gutiérrez , Massa, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso and Jolyon Palmer of Renault, in that order.

Massa will be retiring from Formula 1 at the end of this season, so it’s disappointing that he was unable to make it into the third qualifying session in his home race. But the fans in attendance cheered him as loudly as ever, all the same.

The first qualifying session was yet another bad one from Jenson Button of McLaren. Button is calling it a career at the end of this season, and he has failed to make it out of the first qualifying session several times this year, including in many recent races. He qualified in 17th, just in the knockout zone.

Lining up behind Button were the other five drivers eliminated in the first qualifying session: Kevin Magnussen of Renault, Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon of Manor and Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr of Sauber. But it was Button who drew the most attention, as he came over the team radio sarcastically telling his team that it definitely had figured out the issues with his car.

It’s nearing a bitter end to a bitter season for Button, a celebrated driver who will go down as one of the best in the sport’s history.

Sunday’s race will get underway at 11 a.m. ET and will be broadcast in the United States on NBCSN. A live stream will be available online via NBC Sports.

Below is the full qualifying order from Saturday’s sessions at Interlagos.