McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton had the fastest time in practice for the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix yesterday, outpacing the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Hamilton had a time of 1 minute, 13.392 seconds at the 4.3-kilometre (2.6-mile) Interlagos track. Vettel was second with a time of 1:13.559 ahead of Webber with 1:13.587.

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest in 1:13.598.

With the title already decided, tomorrow’s Brazilian GP features the fight for second place, with Webber, Alonso and Jenson Button still with a chance to finish runner-up.

Webber had been the fastest in the first practice session in South America’s biggest city, followed by Button and Hamilton.

A mechanical failure forced Alonso to stop with about five minutes to go in the morning session and he was forced to change his engine. He was not penalized for the change, however, because he switched to a used engine instead of a new one, which would have incurred a grid penalty for tomorrow’s race.