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Nov
23rd

F1 Brazil: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton dominates practice sessions in Sao Paulo

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On Friday, Lewis Hamilton of the McLaren-Mercedes team set the best time on both free practice sessions of the Grand Prix of Brazil in Sao Paulo.

Hamilton, who will contest his final Grand Prix for McLaren on Sunday, set the fastest time in the morning practice session. The Briton set the best time in 1m14.131 with the MP4-27 fitted with a set of 2013 Pirelli prototype tires.

F1 Brazil 2012 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren (Photo: WRI2)

Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing was second-fastest on a set of the current hard tires, just 0.009 second down to Hamilton.

Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, was third quickest, also on a set of hard tires. Jenson Button was fourth, followed by Vettel's championship rival, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Romain Grosjean (Lotus).

It got hotter during the afternoon session as the air temperature reached 33 degrees.

F1 Brazil 2012 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull (Photo: WRI2)

Hamilton was quick out of the box, but Massa and then Vettel went even faster.

Grosjean was the first driver to run on medium tires, and he set the best time.

Hamilton retook first place before he began a series of long runs, as did most other drivers. We saw several drivers locking up the wheel under braking.

F1 Brazil 2012 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari (Photo: WRI2)

Hamilton was slightly quicker than Vettel and Alonso during the long runs.

The McLaren driver classified first again in front of Vettel, Webber, Massa, Alonso, and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG), contesting the very last Grand Prix in his career.

Grand Prix of Brazil, Sao Paulo, Friday's first practice session*:
1 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'14"131 - 33 laps
2 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1'14"140 - 35
3 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1'14"198 - 34
4 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'14"217 - 31
5 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F2012) - 1'14"392 - 28
6 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2012) - 1'14"716 - 29
7 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E20-Renault) - 1'14"719 - 33
8 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'14"738 - 34
9 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'15"015 - 37
10 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'15"050 - 32
11 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'15"114 - 36
12 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'15"255 - 31
13 - Sergio Perez (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'15"396 - 32
14 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'15"413 - 23
15 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'15"587 - 35
16 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E20-Renault) - 1'15"701 - 16
17 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'16"048 - 35
18 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'16"315 - 36
19 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1'16"460 - 32
20 - Timo Glock (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1'16"506 - 31
21 - Vitaly Petrov (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1'16"617 - 30
22 - Charles Pic (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1'17"234 - 26
23 - Pedro De La Rosa (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1'17"678 - 15
24 - Narain Karthikeyan (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1'17"895 - 13

Grand Prix of Brazil, Sao Paulo, Friday's second practice session*:
1 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'14"026 - 35 laps
2 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1'14"300 - 40
3 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1'14"523 - 37
4 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2012) - 1'14"553 - 37
5 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F2012) - 1'14"592 - 37
6 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'14"654 - 36
7 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'14"669 - 40
8 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'14"883 - 40
9 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E20-Renault) - 1'14"994 - 37
10 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'15"129 - 39
11 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'15"131 - 40
12 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E20-Renault) - 1'15"371 - 39
13 - Bruno Senna (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'15"432 - 45
14 - Sergio Perez (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'15"542 - 35
15 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'15"839 - 43
16 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'15"902 - 39
17 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'15"953 - 47
18 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'16"048 - 40
19 - Vitaly Petrov (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1'16"126 - 39
20 - Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1'16"665 - 42
21 - Pedro De La Rosa (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1'17"244 - 15
22 - Timo Glock (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1'17"675 - 42
23 - Charles Pic (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1'18"127 - 31
24 - Narain Karthikeyan (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1'18"139 - 15

*Unofficial timing
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