The 2012 Formula 1 season is about to come to an end. There might have been a few boring races this season, but it has all come down to an exciting finally. First through sixth place in the World Drivers' Championship is still up for grabs, and it is likely the last time that Michael Schumacher will ever qualify for a Formula 1 race. 

Q1: Rain had fallen on the track about an hour before qualifying. There was very slight dry line at the start of Q1. It was quite slick off the racing line and often fairly slick on the line as well. 

The top drivers stayed in the pits for most of Q1 to allow some of the slower teams to create more of a dry line. With 10 minutes to go in the session, Pastor Maldonado was fastest on track with a 1:18.709.

With six minutes to go in the Q1 session, Alonso and Hamilton began trading fast laps. First Hamilton was fastest, then Alonso, and then Hamilton again. With five minutes to go, Hamilton had a 1:17.346 lap, and Alonso was 0.04 seconds behind him. 

With two minutes to go in the session, Pedro de la Rosa cut into Romain Grosjean's line while Grosjean was trying to pass him. De la Rosa tore the front wing off of Grosjean's car, but Grosjean was able to pit, get a new wing and do another fast lap before the session was over. 

With time over in the session, Hamilton was the fastest driver in the session with a 1:15.075, but Grosjean's fast lap did not hold and he was knocked out of the session. 

Q2: The track was significantly drier for this session than the previous one. Even the early laps were nearly a second faster than the last laps of the previous session. 

Alonso set an early fast lap of 1:14.288, while Vettel waited in the pits to go out later in the session. With five minutes to go in the session, Alonso was still the fastest on track, but Felipe Massa was just behind him in second about 0.3 seconds slower. 

Vettel came out and on his first fast lap did a 1:13.209 with about 3 minutes left in the session. Alonso was now seventh fastest. Hamilton and Button were second and third. 

With no time left in the session, Alonso and Massa were nearly knocked out of the session. They were in ninth and tenth. Vettel, Hamilton and Button were the fastest in the session. 

Q3: The sun was out, and the track appeared dry for the final qualifying session. With five minutes to go in the session, the only drivers who had put in fast laps were Hamilton, Alonso and Rosberg. Hamilton had got his fast lap down to 1:12.850. 

At the checker flag, Mark Webber was the fastest of the session, but everyone was still on track. Hamilton was fastest as he came around, and Button came in right behind him. Alonso was not so lucky. He was initially fifth but knocked down to eighth by the time everyone around him had lapped.

McLaren will start from the front row; Red Bull holds the second row, and the highest placed Ferrari is Massa in fifth.

Alonso will start four places down from Vettel. To win the championship, Vettel just has to finish better than fourth.