Nico Rosberg has finished top of the standings in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix to secure a fifth consecutive pole position ahead of Sunday's race.
The German edged out his Mercedes teammate and world champion Lewis Hamilton by just 0.078 seconds as the pair finished one-two ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel before the penultimate Grand Prix of the season tomorrow.
The Mercedes duo were top throughout the practice races and it proved to be the same story on Saturday at Interlagos as their speed was too much for the chasing pack to handle, with Rosberg setting the fastest lap of the weekend at 1:11.461.
Rosberg's team boss Toto Wolff said: "It was an immense lap from Nico, he is on fire. It is important for him to finish second in the championship and maybe there is some of the pressure gone for Lewis which might not be a good thing. It was a very intelligent session from Nico."
Elsewhere, only a much-improved final lap from Felipe Massa saw the Brazilian sneak into the top 10 in his home country, while Fernando Alonso was eliminated in the first round after being instructed to stop by his McLaren team.
Full Standings:
1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
4. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
5. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
6. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
7. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull)
8. Felipe Massa (Williams)
9. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
10. Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso)
11. Felipe Nasr (Sauber)
12. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso)
13. Sergio Perez (Force India)
14. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
15. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
16. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus)
17. Jenson Button (McLaren)
18. Alexander Rossi (Manor)
19. Will Stevens (Manor)
20. Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
