Lewis Hamilton tops second Friday practice for McLaren in Brazil

Amid continued perfect weather at the Sao Paulo track, Hamilton spent the vast majority of the afternoon at the head of the order.

His first serious lap time of the session - a 1m13.852s - put him on top from the 11th minute to the 49th, and was only beaten when others switched to the softer tyres.

It was Michael Schumacher's Mercedes that deposed Hamilton, as the former champion put in a 1m13.723s. But six minutes later Hamilton was back out on soft rubber too, improving to first 1m13.653s, then the 1m13.392s that would keep him on top to the end.

World champion Sebastian Vettel eventually claimed second for Red Bull, 0.167 seconds off Hamilton's pace, and just ahead of RBR team-mate Mark Webber.

Fernando Alonso was the leading Ferrari driver in fourth, with Schumacher staying among the frontrunners in fifth.

Felipe Massa completed the top six for Ferrari, while Jenson Button spent a long spell just behind team-mate Hamilton in second before falling to seventh as he did not make a particular large pace jump on softs.

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta completed the top 10.

The only notable incident of the session was a gearbox failure for Sergio Perez, which stranded his Sauber on the climb out of Juncao with a few minutes to go.

Pos  Driver                Team                   Time                Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1m13.392s              35
 2.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault       1m13.559s  + 0.167	41
 3.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault       1m13.587s  + 0.195	41
 4.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                1m13.598s  + 0.206	35
 5.  Michael Schumacher   Mercedes               1m13.723s  + 0.331	38
 6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                1m13.750s  + 0.358	39
 7.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes       1m13.787s  + 0.395	36
 8.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes               1m13.872s  + 0.480	42
 9.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes   1m14.144s  + 0.752	41
10.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes   1m14.807s  + 1.415	48
11.  Vitaly Petrov        Renault                1m14.856s  + 1.464	38
12.  Bruno Senna          Renault                1m14.931s  + 1.539	37
13.  Sergio Perez         Sauber-Ferrari         1m14.970s  + 1.578	32
14.  Kamui Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1m15.019s  + 1.627	45
15.  Sebastien Buemi      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m15.264s  + 1.872	44
16.  Jaime Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m15.388s  + 1.996	41
17.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth      1m15.679s  + 2.287	43
18.  Rubens Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth      1m15.903s  + 2.511	40
19.  Jarno Trulli         Lotus-Renault          1m16.298s  + 2.906	36
20.  Heikki Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault          1m16.338s  + 2.946	48
21.  Jerome D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth        1m18.031s  + 4.639	39
22.  Timo Glock           Virgin-Cosworth        1m18.051s  + 4.659	45
23.  Daniel Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth           1m18.367s  + 4.975	42
24.  Tonio Liuzzi         HRT-Cosworth           1m18.476s  + 5.084	42

All Timing Unofficial