Sebastian Vettel proved nothing can stop him, come rain or shine, as he grabbed the 45th pole position of his career ahead of today's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
Miserable, wet conditions shrouded Interlagos throughout all three qualifying segments but at the conclusion it was the champion who again came out on top.
In the unstoppable Red Bull, Vettel qualified six tenths of a second quicker than Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso more than a second back in third.
After clinching his sixth pole in the last eight races, and ninth of the year, Vettel admitted his margin over Rosberg was "a big surprise".
With a record-equalling ninth successive victory in his sights, and a 13th overall this season, Vettel said: "Q3 took a long time to get under way. We had to wait a long time but there was too much water and the risk of aquaplaning was too high. I was surprised by the margin at the end."
Rosberg said qualifying was "extremely tough" given the conditions, adding: "I'm surprised about the gap to Sebastian. That's a very big deficit. But the front row is a good place to start the final race of the year."
Third is Alonso's highest grid slot since the Bahrain Grand Prix in April. The Spaniard said: "We know in the wet we improve. We've been waiting for wet races. Overall I havemixed feelings. I'm happy to be third on the grid as I've started seventh to 10th in the last few, but I wasn't happy with my lap. Second was possible but we still have opportunities for tomorrow's race starting near the front.
"Maybe in the wet I'll have a little bit of a better chance against Sebastian, but it will be hard either way."
Rain is forecast for Sao Paulo today although when it will fall, and whether it will impact on the race if it does, is another matter. Alonso, like Rosberg, would prefer mixed conditions to give him some hope of beating Vettel.
"We need to be realistic, so it is no good telling our fans we have a chance to win the race when it is not true," Alonso said.
"In the last five or six events we've had zero chance of winning the race but for this one we have a small chance - very small."
For what will be his 215th and final grand prix before switching to Porsche's sportscar programme for next year, Mark Webber will line up fourth in his Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton will start fifth. The Briton conceded after practice on Friday he would have "no hope" in the wet given his struggles with the Mercedes in such conditions.
Hamilton said: "That's kind of where I thought I would be. I did my best out there but I'm struggling. When I was at McLaren I knew the car. I was there for a long, long time and it suited me better than the one I'm driving right now. I've just got to do some more work."
The only incident in qualifying saw Sergio Perez spin his McLaren into a wall on his final attempt in Q2 at a time when the rain was becoming heavy. A small crumb of comfort for Perez after he qualified 14th is that he starts one place ahead of team-mate Jenson Button, with the Mexican out- qualifying the Briton 10-9 over his one year with the team after being axed last week.
Button said: "We struggled because there was so much water, and we haven't run when the conditions were this bad. We've been trying to save tyres all weekend for qualifying, but we made the wrong call.
"If it's wet like this on Sunday it's a horrible race because you cant see anything. Hopefully it won't be all under the safety car."
Scotland's Paul Di Resta starts 12th for Force India.
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