Mark Webber got the final race weekend of the 2011 season at Interlagos off to the perfect start for him with the fastest time in first practice, as Red Bull and McLaren were once again closely-matched at the top of the timesheet.
The Australian, without a race victory all season but with a strong recent record in Brazil, unusually led the way for RBR on a Friday morning with a best time of 1m13.811s, which was a mere 0.014s faster than McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Abu Dhabi winner Lewis Hamilton was just 0.150s back in third in other McLaren with world champion Sebastian Vettel a little more than 0.2s adrift of his team-mate in fourth.
Click Here to Read More
Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in First Practice at Interlagos
Ferrari are hoping to finish what has been a disappointing campaign on a positive note this weekend but their lead runner Fernando Alonso endured a troublesome session, eventually having to pull off the circuit at the bottom of the Senna S with just over five minutes remaining when his V8 engine failed.
The Spaniard ended up sixth on the times behind team-mate and local hero Felipe Massa, who was 0.696s off the pace at the end of a session in which both Ferrari drivers initially rain with high-vis paint on their cars’ front wings, Alonso also running numerous times through the pit lane rather than setting a lap time early on. ITV.com
Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes took seventh and 10th, sandwiching the Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta.
Hulkenberg was just one member of a large test and reserve driver contingent in action. Romain Grosjean was 12th for Renault despite stopping in the pit exit with clutch trouble after an hour. Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne took 18th, Luiz Razia was 20th on his return to Lotus duty, and Jan Charouz’s grand prix weekend debut saw him slowest but within 0.6s of HRT team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
There were no significant off-track incidents in the session bar a handful of trips over the run-off area and a swift spin for Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:13.8 2 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:13.8 3 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:14.0 4 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:14.0 5 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:14.5 6 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:14.5 7 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:15.2 8 14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 01:15.2 9 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 01:15.2 10 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:15.3 11 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:15.5 12 10 Romain Grosjean Renault 01:15.5 13 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:15.7 14 9 Bruno Senna Renault 01:15.7 15 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:15.7 16 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:15.8 17 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:16.0 18 18 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 01:16.1 19 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 01:16.5 20 21 Luiz Razia Lotus-Renault 01:17.6 21 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:18.1 22 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:18.7 23 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 01:19.0 24 23 Jan Charouz HRT-Cosworth 01:19.6
| 
|