Williams driver Rubens Barrichello said that he was delighted to have secured a 12th position on the grid for his home grand prix in Brazil, saying that he had given his all on his flying lap at the end of the Q2 part of the session.
Barrichello came into the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend amidst suggestions that this could be his last GP weekend, with Williams reportedly set to replace him for 2012.But the Brazilian, who has insisted that he is not driving like it was his last-ever race, seemed unaffected by the rumours in qualifying.
He ended up 12th on the grid for tomorrow's race, a rare positive performance in a terrible 2011 campaign for the Williams team, after a late soft tyre run in the Q2 phase of the session.
And afterwards he said that he was glad to have put in such a strong performance in front of his home fans.
"I feel great!" he screamed after the session, "I'm so glad that I put in a good lap because I have lots of family here this weekend.
"Also for the team and for the fans, it really felt like they were pushing me on which was an amazing feeling."
As far as his hopes of a strong result in the race were concerned, he added: "I have to drive 71 laps like that tomorrow but we have the best chance now so let's hope for a good one!"
His team mate Pastor Maldonado fared less well, and was eliminated in the Q1 phase of the session along with the usual F1 backmarkers.
Afterwards, the Venezuelan admitted that he had struggled to get in a clean lap during the session, but said that he was hopeful of making up places in the race.
"We're a bit on the back foot with P18," he lamented, "We didn't find the best balance on the option tyre and so didn't get a clean lap in.
"I will need to make up lots of ground in the race but after doing that in Abu Dhabi, I'm optimistic I can do it again here."
The team's chief operations engineer Mark Gillan added: "Going into qualifying, the threat of rain increased pushing us to run earlier than we normally would have done.
"Rubens progressed into Q2 but unfortunately Pastor didn't get a clean lap and finished P18. Rubens had a good, clean lap on his new set of soft tyres in Q2 to finish a credible P12."
Williams will be hoping that Barrichello will be able to add to their points haul for the season, having scored a meagre five championship points to date.
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