Mark Webber set the pace in Friday’s opening practice ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix. After McLaren had headed the timesheets earlier on, the 2009 winner moved ahead of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, with Champion Sebastian Vettel fourth. Running with an old engine, Fernando Alonso parked his Ferrari.
Conditions were ideal as the final Friday of the season began, with crowds enjoying a mostly all-blue sky and track conditions peaking at 42°C (108°F). No less than five temporary drivers were in action, with GP2 Champion Romain Grosjean driving at LRGP as Nico Hülkenberg, Jean-Eric Vergne, Luiz Razia and Czech Jan Charouz drove for Force India, Toro Rosso, Team Lotus and HRT respectively.
At Team Lotus, a new rear wing was in place which is aimed at improving DRS performance for qualifying, with Ferrari running high-visibility aerodynamic paint on its front wing which has raised eyebrows by hitting the ground in both India and Abu Dhabi. A number of drivers ran with modified helmet designs which will be auctioned off after the race weekend.
The Mercedes cars headed the order early doors, although it was soon McLaren and Vettel who led the way, with Webber’s eventual best effort of 1:13.881 edging out Button by just 14 thousandths of a second. Behind Vettel, Felipe Massa - who narrowly avoided Jérôme d’Ambrosio and a slowing McLaren during the session - was fifth and ahead of Ferrari team-mate Alonso, although the latter stopped at Turn 2 as his old engine expired with just over five minutes remaining.
The session featured few incidents, with a trip across the Senna S grass for Charouz and a spin at Bico de Pato for Kamui Kobayashi perhaps being the biggest talking points. Grosjean was forced to make his way back to the pits on foot, as the Franco-Swiss suffered a clutch problem when performing a practice start in the pit lane exit.
Second practice begins at 2pm local time (GMT -2) and can also be tracked through the GPUpdate.net live report
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Formula 1
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Mark Webber
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:13.811 | 26 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:13.825 | 25 |
| 3. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:13.961 | 20 |
| 4. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:14.025 | 28 |
| 5. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:14.507 | 34 |
| 6. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:14.541 | 26 |
| 7. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:15.162 | 28 |
| 8. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 01:15.178 | 28 |
| 9. | P. di Resta | Force India | 01:15.241 | 31 |
| 10. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:15.321 | 29 |
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