Webber encouraged by strong qualifying

The Australian will take the start at Interlagos from an impressive fifth spot on the grid, with teammate David Coulthard in ninth, just in front of the Williams of Nico Rosberg in tenth.

Williams are still four points ahead of Red Bull Racing, but debutant Kazuki Nakajima could only set the 19th fastest time in the other Williams car.

"That was a good qualifying session today," said Webber. "It's definitely going to be all about the tyres tomorrow, which should make it a very interesting race.

"Both cars are in a reasonable shape and we've been competitive all weekend. So, so-far-so-good and we'll see what we can do tomorrow."

Team boss Christian Horner hailed the progress made by the squad in recent times and, thanks to his cars' different strategies, pledges to fight hard to overhaul Williams.

"Another very strong team result clearly showing the progress that we've made during recent weeks," said Horner.

"Fifth and ninth with the cars on different strategies for tomorrow is a good position for us and we'll be fighting hard to try and achieve the four points we need to overhaul Williams in the Constructors' Championship."

Coulthard had some issues with his tyres and with the amount of fuel that went into his tank during the session, but ultimately was content with the afternoon's outcome.

"The option tyre at the beginning of that qualifying session felt really strange, I struggled on it, made a few mistakes and couldn't get it together," said the Scot. "I then managed to on my last flying lap, which got me through into the top ten.

"There was a very slight under fill when the team did my refuelling, so I had to try and do the laps without burning all the fuel, but we managed it okay."