FORMULA ONE/ BRAZIL GP QUALIFYING:Lewis Hamilton will start the most important grand prix of his Formula One career from a surprisingly lowly fourth on the grid. The British driver finished half a second down on world title rival Felipe Massa at the end of qualifying for tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix.
On home soil Massa thrilled his army of fans by clinching pole for the third successive year at Interlagos, with Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Massa's Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen also ahead of Hamilton.
It was the first time any driver has taken three successive poles on this track, even eclipsing the legendary Ayrton Senna.
Massa, who trails Hamilton by seven points going into the title deciding showdown, now has the perfect launchpad to overhaul the 23-year-old McLaren driver.
Hamilton, who has to finish in the top five to take the title, at least has his own team-mate in Heikki Kovalainen behind him ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso.
Sebastian Vettel starts seventh for Toro Rosso, with Nick Heidfeld eighth in his BMW Sauber, followed by the second Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais and Toyota's Timo Glock.
There was appreciably a sense of expectation amongst the Brazilian fans packed inside Interlagos, one of F1's truly great venues. In the minutes building up to the start, every time Massa was seen on the giant screens there were raucous cheers.
Contrast that with when Hamilton was viewed as he was greeted with jeers and whistles, although hardly venomous, more due to the fact he is their hero's only rival for the title.
Every time he roared down the start-finish straight there was a crescendo of noise from his supporters to accompany that of his Ferrari engine.
That was evident when he set the fastest time in Q1, finishing a considerable three tenths of a second quicker than Hamilton, and even more so at the death when they knew he had taken pole.
Leading Positions After Qualifying:1 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1min 12.368secs, 2 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:12.737, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:12.825, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:12.830, 5 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:12.917, 6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:12.967, 7 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:13.082, 8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:13.297, 9 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:14.105, 10 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:14.230, 11 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 1:12.137, 12 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:12.289, 13 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:12.300, 14 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 1:12.717, 15 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:13.139, 16 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:12.800, 17 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 1:12.810, 18 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:13.002, 19 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:13.426, 20 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:13.508