Alonso Fastest in Practice 3 - Brazil
World Championship leader Fernando Alonso led teammate Giancarlo Fisichella in a Renault one-two in Saturday morning's first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos
Alonso set a time of 1:12.738 to beat Fisichella to top spot by just 0.051 seconds and Juan Pablo Montoya finished third for McLaren after missing out on a shot at the top when he spun off with seconds to go.
Montoya ended up three tenths of a second slower than Alonso with his teammate Kimi Raikkonen making it a McLaren three-four and Jenson Button finishing fifth in his BAR-Honda machine.
Rubens Barrichello, who is keen to impress in his final home race for Ferrari, finished as the fastest Brazilian in seventh, just ahead of compatriot Antonio Pizzonia, Williams' stand-in for the injured Nick Heidfeld.
Jarno Trulli finished eighth fastest for Toyota with his teammate Ralf Schumacher just behind and World Champion Michael Schumacher made it into the top ten in his Ferrari.
The session, run in temperatures of 23 degrees Celsius under hazy and cloudy skies in Sao Paulo, saw little action until late on as drivers limited their running to conserve their cars.
Narain Karthikeyan and Felipe Massa both made mistakes and went off at turn one after 40 minutes of the session and Montoya spun off in the closing seconds at turn 12 as he tried to put in a fast lap.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Renault (M) 1:12.738 7 2. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:12.789 + 0.051 9 3. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.050 + 0.312 10 4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.088 + 0.350 6 5. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:13.186 + 0.448 9 6. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:13.529 + 0.791 8 7. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:13.795 + 1.057 8 8. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:13.869 + 1.131 12 9. R.Schumacher Toyota (M) 1:13.908 + 1.170 9 10. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:13.952 + 1.214 8 11. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:14.042 + 1.304 9 12. Klien Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:14.051 + 1.313 12 13. Webber Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.112 + 1.374 8 14. Massa Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:14.255 + 1.517 8 15. Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:14.401 + 1.663 5 16. Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:14.479 + 1.741 11 17. Monteiro Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:14.851 + 2.113 11 18. Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:15.252 + 2.514 9 19. Doornbos Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:15.772 + 3.034 8 20. Albers Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:15.815 + 3.077 13 All timing unofficial
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| Series | Formula 1 |
| Drivers | Fernando Alonso |
| Author | Will Gray |
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