Webber tops Friday First Practice. Barrichello Second and Vettel third.

[raindancer]

Red Bull's Mark Webber was quickest in a disjointed first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

Webber's effort of one minute 12.463 seconds put him ahead of Brawn's Rubens Barrichello, who was second fastest.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was third fastest as championship leader Jenson Button was seventh in the other Brawn.

Rain and a stoppage following a crash by Renault's Romain Grosjean at Turn 12 affected the amount of running in a closely-matched session.

After 20 minutes of heavy rain the cars returned to the track but there was soon a seven-minute red flag delay after Grosjean slid off.
   
WORLD TITLE RACE IN A NUTSHELL
Button will win the title in Brazil if...
He finishes third or better
OR He finishes fourth and Barrichello does not win
OR Vettel finishes lower than second and Barrichello finishes lower than fourth
OR He loses no more than four points to Barrichello
The F1 points system is: 1st - 10pts; 2nd - 8pts; 3rd - 6pts; 4th - 5pts; 5th - 4pts; 6th - 3pts; 7th - 2pts; 8th - 1pts

The Frenchman careered into a polystyrene braking board, scattering debris on the track.

Button will clinch the drivers' championship if he finishes on the podium in Brazil and the Englishman can also triumph if his two title rivals, Barrichello and Vettel, fail to score heavily.

The session started slowly as Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi staged a personal battle with the stopwatch by setting six fastest laps times as the other drivers stayed in their garages.

But as the spots of Sao Paulo drizzle began to settle the big players emerged from their garages to try and do some meaningful running before the real rain arrived.

First, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen set the quickest lap before Red Bull's Webber and then McLaren's Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets.

Barrichello briefly snatched top spot only to see Vettel improve the leading time to one minute 12.932 seconds before heavy rain halted proceedings after 35 minutes.
   
606: DEBATE
I am a big Rubens Barrichello fan and would love to see him lift the world title at the end of an illustrious career

SidinSingers

It was a fascinating glimpse of how competitive Sunday's grand prix could be as different sectors of the Interlagos circuit seemed to suit the strengths of different cars.

Friday's sessions are rarely a reliable indicator of genuine race pace as they are usually used to assess fuel loads and evaluate any changes the teams make to their cars' set-ups.

But Friday's rush to put in some quick running before the rain arrived gave the Interlagos fans a chance to see the top drivers slip-sliding around the circuit as they scrambled for grip.

Hamilton made good use of his Kers power-boost system to set some fast lap times on a circuit where there can be a 10% power deficit due to the 800m altitude.

However, team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was fourth fastest overall with a time that was less than a tenth of a second quicker than Hamilton in fifth.