Mark Webber fastest in opening practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix

Mark Webber was quickest for Red Bull in the opening Brazilian Grand Prix practice session at a dry and sunny Interlagos.

A 1m13.811s lap for Webber heading into the final quarter of an hour saw him depose the two McLarens, with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton second and third ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull. All four were within 0.214 seconds.

The McLarens and Red Bulls had dominated the top of the standings once the serious running began after the first half hour, with Hamilton and Button up front for a quarter of an hour before Vettel took a turn in first place.

Button usurped the champion around the one-hour mark, with Hamilton coming in behind him to briefly form a McLaren one-two, before Webber set what proved to be the morning's fastest time.

The Ferraris completed the top six, with Felipe Massa ahead of Fernando Alonso - who parked with an engine failure four minutes from the end.

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.

Pos  Driver                Team                    Time               Laps
 1.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m13.811s            26
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m13.825s  + 0.014   25
 3.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes        1m13.961s  + 0.150   20
 4.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m14.025s  + 0.214   28
 5.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m14.507s  + 0.696   34
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m14.541s  + 0.730   26
 7.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes                1m15.162s  + 1.351   28
 8.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes    1m15.178s  + 1.367   28
 9.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m15.241s  + 1.430   31
10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m15.321s  + 1.510   29
11.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m15.468s  + 1.657   29
12.  Romain Grosjean       Renault                 1m15.547s  + 1.736   18
13.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1m15.663s  + 1.852   27
14.  Bruno Senna           Renault                 1m15.732s  + 1.921   32
15.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari          1m15.747s  + 1.936   31
16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth       1m15.836s  + 2.025   27
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari          1m15.979s  + 2.168   35
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m16.052s  + 2.241   33
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault           1m16.514s  + 2.703   33
20.  Luiz Razia            Lotus-Renault           1m17.595s  + 3.784   31
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth         1m18.140s  + 4.329   29
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth         1m18.653s  + 4.842   29
23.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth            1m18.952s  + 5.141   33
24.  Jan Charouz           HRT-Cosworth            1m19.577s  + 5.766   37

All Timing Unofficial

Autosport