Hulkenberg's shock poleposted in F106 | 11 | 2010

ALL EYES in Brazil may have been on the four main contenders for the world championship, but it was Nico Hulkenberg who stunned the paddock by grabbing the first pole position of his career, and the first for Williams since the Nurburgring in 2005.

The 23-year-old German, under pressure at the end of his rookie season, delivered a sensational performance as the Interlagos track slowly dried and he switched from intermediates to slicks.

But while the rest of the top 10 followed, the Williams driver — watched from the team's garage by RBS ambassador and three-times world champ Sir Jackie Stewart — was the only driver to fully master the tricky conditions. Going quicker and quicker with each lap, Hulkenberg finished 1.049secs ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.

Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren fill the second row, with world championship leader Fernando Alonso a disappointing fifth for Ferrari.

The top 10 was completed by Hulkenberg's team-mate Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica in seventh for Renault, followed by Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Vitaly Petrov (Renault) in 10th.

"This means a pay rise actually ... only joking," Hulkenberg said afterwards. "The situation at Williams is very open, nothing is confirmed but I just try to keep focused on doing a good job, and so far it is working pretty well.

"If I do that and I don't make any silly mistakes, that is what I can do. Then it's up to team if they want to keep me, but I am in positive mood that we will have a successful conclusion to that story.

"It is amazing, I still can't believe I've done it. Going on slicks was obviously the right decision, my engineer told me I had one last lap so I was squeezing everything out of car, trying not to get on the wet parts. It was easy to do a mistake but that lap was spot on. It's a great moment for us."

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