Nico Hulkenberg was Renault Sport Formula One Team's lead driver in qualifying for the Heineken Brazilian Grand Prix after setting the eighth-fastest time today, whilst Carlos Sainz was just a tenth of a second adrift in ninth position. Both drivers enjoyed trouble-free FP3 sessions and proceeded to the top ten determining Q3 session without drama.

Nico Hulkenberg: "That was a good qualifying effort today and I think it was as good as it gets from the car here. We had some nice laps at the end of Q3 so I'm happy with that. Of course, I would have liked there to have been a little more rain to mix it up a bit, but that wasn't to be. The name of the game tomorrow is to get to the chequered flag and to get points. We have reasonable race pace so it should be a good battle with Force India, McLaren and Williams; let's see what happens."

Carlos Sainz: "It was a good day. I'm feeling more confident with the car and today was definitely a step forward from previous sessions. There's still scope for improvement and adaptation, but to be in Q3 for the third time with my new team is a positive experience. Points are definitely the target tomorrow. It's going to be an interesting race with Hamilton and Ricciardo fighting back, but we have the pace, so we just need to keep pushing."

How was qualifying for the team?
Alan Permane, Sporting Director: We're happy with our performance today. Both cars are in the top ten and we experienced a very straight-forward day with both drivers delivering well.

What are the considerations for tomorrow's race?
AP: Reliability is something foremost in our minds as getting to the end of the race and scoring points is our target. The aim is to move up in the championship. The weather forecast is currently for a dry race, which means fewer variables; we just need to concentrate on maximising every opportunity. We're aiming for a sensible race with a solid result.

Check out our Saturday gallery from Interlagos, here.