Practice 1 Report - Much ado, few conclusions

The first practice session of the Brazilian Grand Prix resulted in a 1-2 for Ferrari with World Championship challenger Kimi Raikkonen four-tenths of a second clear of local hero and last year's winner Felipe Massa. There was then a massive eight-tenths gap back to the third fastest runner Heikki Kovalainen. Does it mean that this will be a dominant weekend for Ferrari? Who can say? The McLarens played their cards very close to their chests with Fernando Alonso one of several drivers who did not do more than an installation lap as the damp conditions presented more risks than benefits. Lewis Hamilton did just 10 laps because he needed to learn the race track and he ended up fifth fastest, which was a good indication that the cars will be competitive when the team decides to show its hands.

With BMW Sauber not bothering to set times this cleared the way for some odd names in the top 10 and so we had Nico Rosberg's Williams in fourth and Ralf Schumacher's Toyota sixth ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso, Mark Webber's Red Bull, Jarno Trulli's Toyota and Tonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso.

The two Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button were 11th and 12th with David Coulthard a careful 13th ahead of Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri. Fifteenth was Adrian Sutil's Spyker, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima's Williams, the Super Aguri of Anthony Davidson and Sakon Yamamoto in the second Spyker.

The weather conditions were difficult with the track getting slightly wetter as the session went on and there were spins for both Spykers, both Toyotas and from Vettel.

Giancarlo Fisichella joined Alonso and the BMWs doing just an installation lap.

This being the last race of the year and overtaking being possible at the Interlagos track we expect to see a rash of engine changes in the course of Saturday and Sunday as there is much to be gained from having a new engine - and little to be lost.