Brazilian GP: Lewis Hamilton on pole ahead of Jenson Button
Title rivals Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso qualified fourth and eighth. Alonso will start seventh after a penalty for Williams's Pastor Maldonado.
Maldonado missed a weight check and was given his third reprimand of 2012 which triggers a 10-place grid drop to 16th.
Alonso is 13 points behind Vettel and must finish on the podium to have any chance of overhauling the German.
Red Bull's Mark Webber was third, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa fifth and out-qualifying team-mate Alonso for the second race in a row.
It was a tight battle for pole between Hamilton and Button, who missed out by just 0.055 seconds.
"I'm grateful to be able to put the car on the front row and to have had my last qualifying with McLaren as a one-two," said Hamilton. "It is a fantastic job by the team and I hope we can turn it into something positive tomorrow."
BBC