Final practice - Alonso at the last

Final practice - Alonso at the last

Fernando Alonso wore the biggest smile after the final practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Spaniard spoiled the symmetry of a McLaren one-two literally in the closing seconds of the session, when he jumped from 18th to first place with a lap of 1m 12.141s for Renault.

Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were very happy, however, with 1m 12.212s and 1m 12.225s laps apiece, since they put them clear of fourth-placed Felipe Massa on 1m 12.312s in the Ferrari.

Kimi Raikkonen should have been with them in the second F2008, but messed up Sector Two and thus had to be content with 12th place in 1m 12.698s.

Once again the times were close in a session that was run on a dry road but in overcast and windy conditions that saw the track temperature rise from 28 to 36 degrees Celsius as the hour progressed.

Sebastian Vettel was fifth ahead of Nick Heidfeld, the Toro Rosso driver recording 1m 12.389s to the BMW Sauber driver’s 1m 12.402s, then came Vettel’s 2008 team mate Sebastien Bourdais on 1m 12.426s and his 2009 team mate to be Mark Webber, on 1m 12.453s for Red Bull. Renault’s Nelson Piquet and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli shared 1m 12.457s for ninth and 10th places, then came Williams’ Nico Rosberg on 1m 12.625s, Raikkonen, Toyota’s Timo Glock on 1m 12.712s, and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica on 1m 12.971s.

Kazuki Nakajima failed to break 1m 13s, but only narrowly as he wheeled his Williams round in 1m 13.054s, ahead of Red Bull’s David Coulthard (1m 13.058s), the Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button (1m 13.135s and 1m 13.278s respectively), and the Force Indias of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil (1m 13.460s and 1m 13.680s respectively).

Remarkably, there were no significant incidents.

f1.com