The rain - along with Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher - arrives at Interlagos as the teams prepare for the peultimate qualifying session of the season
Lewis Hamilton, who is 25 points - equivalent to a race victory - behind championship leader Fernando Alonso, fuels up for the weekend's final practice session
Time may be running out for Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button however. The defending champion is 42 points off Alonso and needs a top-two finish and other results to go his way to keep his title bid alive
Much of the day's focus will be on the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber after their storming performances in Friday's free practice amid increasingly apparent tensions between the drivers
Button is one of several drivers to tinker with their set-up as sporadic rain makes strategy all-important
Webber is playing it cool on where he will be plying his trade in 2011, but could still deliver the drivers' title for Red Bull with just 11 points separating him and Alonso
But, just as in both Friday's sessions, Webber finds himself outdone by Vettel in practice. The young German posts the second-fastest time just behind Renault's Robert Kubica.
Kubica will be hoping to add to an impressive qualifying record so far this season that features three top-three grid placings
Only one man can clinch the championship this weekend however. Fernando Alonso, a world title winner in 2005 and 2006, could finish third and still be crowned before the final race in Abu Dhabi
The attention on the Spaniard is not diminished by a low-key showing in practice where he finishes fifth fastest behind team-mate Felipe Massa
The teams mull over weather forecasts as they consider whether to opt for full wet tyres or intermediates for qualifying
The slippery conditions carry though into qualifying, but the track is slowly drying as the rain holds off
The biggest casualty of the second qualifying session is McLaren's Button who sees his title hopes dealt a potentially fatal blow as he fails to edge out Felipe Massa for the final spot in the top-ten shoot-out
There is a far bigger surprise in store as Williams' Nico Hulkenberg posts a superb lap to put himself on pole for the first time in his F1 career and in the middle of the post-qualifying photo opportunity
Vettel reflects on a gap of more than a second that Hulkenberg prised open on the previously dominant Red Bulls
Alonso will start Sunday's race from fifth, one place behind Lewis Hamilton, and will need to find a route past his rivals to bring the championship to an early conclusion
Button departs the Sao Paulo circuit aware that he is probably set for a supporting, rather than starring, role in the decisive stages of the world title race
The locals will pack every possible vantage point for what looks to be an an intriguingly poised race on Sunday. The lights go out at 1600GMT
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