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Red Bull Formula One driver Mark Webber - Source: Photosport -
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Renault's Fernando Alonso made his peace with future Ferrari
team mate Felipe Massa on Saturday before setting the pace in
free practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at
Interlagos.
While the Spaniard lapped with a best time of one minute 12.314
seconds, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was the fastest of the three
championship contenders ahead of what could be a title-deciding
race on Monday.
The Brawn GP driver was second in the morning session, behind Red
Bull's Mark Webber, and third in the afternoon at what amounts to a
neighbourhood track for the Sao Paulo native.
His team mate and championship leader Jenson Button, who could take
the crown on Monday with a race to spare, was seventh and
fifth respectively.
Australian Webber had lapped the anti-clockwise circuit in 1:12.463
seconds before lunch, with occasional rain interrupting
proceedings.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, the third man in the title fight,
managed the third and seventh best times in the two
sessions.
Barrichello is 14 points adrift of Button, with Vettel two further
back.
Race-fixing scandal
Alonso, a double world champion who won both of his titles with
Renault at Interlagos without winning the Brazilian race, had been
in the spotlight on Thursday in continued fallout from his team's
involvement in a race-fixing scandal.
While the Spaniard has been cleared of any involvement in an affair
that landed Renault a suspended permanent ban, Massa told Brazilian
reporters his future team mate must have known what was going
on.
The Brazilian is still recovering from the serious head injuries
suffered in Hungary in July and is not racing this
weekend.
The two met between the sessions in the Interlagos paddock, in what
Ferrari presented as a chance encounter, and were photographed
smiling and shaking hands.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who beat Massa to the title at Interlagos
in a season-ending thriller last year, was 10th in the afternoon
after lapping fifth fastest in the morning.
The opening session was halted briefly when Renault's French rookie
Romain Grosjean blasted through a polystyrene advertising block and
scattered a cloud of debris across the track.
Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, who was second fastest in the
afternoon, spun and hit the tyre wall backwards when the action
resumed, damaging his car's rear suspension.
