Lewis Hamilton: loses pole to Rosberg

Nico Rosberg beat his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton  to the pole position in the final practice of the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.

Hamilton lost out to the German by just 0.078 seconds.

But the third time world champion said he was still confident of winning, and that will be winning for the first time in Brazil.

“My main job is done this year, so it’s not the most important thing but that’s the target,” said Hamilton.

“Last year I was strong in the race. I hope to be able to carry that through and see if I can make the difference.”

Rosberg’s pole was his fifth in a row and he appears to have turned around the qualifying deficit he had to Hamilton in the first part of the season, which saw the Englishman take 11 poles from 12 races, the foundation of his championship-winning campaign.

But Rosberg has turned only one of those pole positions into victory – at the last race in Mexico two weeks ago.

“If there are any cracks anywhere I will try to find them,” said Hamilton, who also started second in Brazil last year and spun while trying to make up time to pass his team-mate at the pit stops.

*reported by BBC