Home favourite Rubens Barrichello was thrilled to again haul his Honda RA108 into the second stage of qualifying, as the veteran Brazilian fired a strong message to his bosses as he bids to extend his career.
The 36-year-old heads into his home Interlagos race not knowing if ;it will be his final grand prix, with a new deal at Honda yet to be secured and the team trying out Bruno Senna and other young hopefuls in a test later this month.
But Barrichello responded to the uncertainty by making the stage of qualifying for the second race in a row, although he admits he was slightly disappointed he couldn’t make any further progress once he got there.
"I'm pleased that we were able to make it into the second qualifying session here in Interlagos today,” he said after qualifying 15th.
“We had a perfect lap on my second run in Q1 with the option tyres working really well.
“Unfortunately we couldn't get the same grip level in Q2 and were really struggling with understeer.
“Despite tweaking the pressures to try and improve, we weren't able to make any further progress.
“Without the understeer, I could have hoped for 14th or maybe even 13th but we were right on the limit of the car's performance."
Team-mate Jenson Button could not match Barrichello’s efforts, although he did manage to at least get ahead of one of the Williams cars in 17th place.
The Briton, whose RA108 ground to a halt at the end of the session, was happier with the grip levels but admits he made an error on his crucial final run.
"The car was a definite improvement from practice this morning as I had much more front grip,” he said.
“Unfortunately I made a mistake on my second lap in turn four, which cost me some time.
“We made some adjustments to the pressures to help the front end grip before my final run and we were able to go quicker but not by enough.
“In any case, my car stopped out on track on my in-lap."