Lewis Hamilton kicked off his Brazilian Grand Prix weekend in great form as he topped the timesheets during the first practice session ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
The Briton, who’s contesting his last race with McLaren before leaving to Mercedes, clocked a 1m14.131 to set the early pace, just 0.009 seconds ahead of Vettel and 0.067 seconds clear of Webber.
Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button wasn’t far off in fourth place, followed by the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.
Romain Grosjean finished seventh, with Paul Di Resta and Pastor Maldonado eighth and ninth respectively. Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10; the German is moving to Sauber next year.
Most drivers completed runs in Pirelli’s 2013 prototype tyres.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m14.131 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m14.140s + 0.009 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m14.198s + 0.067 4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m14.217s + 0.086 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.392s + 0.261 6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m14.716s + 0.585 7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m14.719s + 0.588 8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m14.738s + 0.607 9. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m15.015s + 0.884 10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m15.050s + 0.919 11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m15.114s + 0.983 12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m15.255s + 1.124 13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m15.396s + 1.265 14. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m15.413s + 1.282 15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m15.587s + 1.456 16. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m15.701s + 1.570 17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.048s + 1.917 18. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m16.315s + 2.184 19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m16.460s + 2.329 20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m16.506s + 2.375 21. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m16.617s + 2.486 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m17.234s + 3.103 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m17.678s + 3.547 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m17.895s + 3.764