Raikkonen quickest in practice 1

The Finn, in his final race for the team before he joins Ferrari, clocked a best time of 1:13.764 seconds to outpace nearest rival Briton Anthony Davidson in a Honda.

Both Ferraris, driven by retirement-bound Michael Schumacher and his teammate Brazilian Felipe Massa, took no part in the session, nor did both Williams cars driven by Australian Mark Webber and German-born Nico Rosberg.

Defending world champion and current leader Fernando Alonso and his Renault teammate Italian Giancarlo Fisichella both did just one installation lap apiece.

Alonso leads the title race by 10 points and needs to score just one to clinch his second drivers' crown, while Schumacher can only win the title if he wins on Sunday and Alonso fails to score.

The session began in cool and overcast conditions, but without any of the heavy rain that had left much of Sao Paulo strewn with puddles for the previous 48 hours. The air temperature was 20 degrees Celsius and the track temperature was 27 degrees.

Crowds of fans and souvenir-salespeople created a hubbub outside the main entrance before the action began with the familiar men leading the way. Austrian Alexander Wurz, for Williams, was soon out on the track and soon, also, at the top of the laptimes.

Wurz, however, was overhauled after 20 minutes by Briton Davidson in his Honda, the test and reserve driver leading the way ahead of German teenager Sebastien Vettel who once again impressed quickly in his BMW Sauber.

After half an hour, it was Davidson, Vettel and Wurz at the top and there was no sign of any of the Ferrari or Renault drivers venturing out to join the fray.

There were few incidents at all before Alonso stirred increased interest when he went out on an installations lap with seven minutes of the hour remaining. His Renault teammate Fisichella also did one lap.

Ernesto Viso and Jarno Trulli both spun and continued as the pace increased in the final minutes, but there was no sign of activity in the Ferrari garage where Michael Schumacher, in his final Grand Prix, appeared to wait patiently, but without doing a lap.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time               Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:13.764             5
 2.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:13.902 +  0.138   32
 3.  Wurz          Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:13.922 +  0.158   25
 4.  Vettel        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:14.204 +  0.440   29
 5.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:14.237 +  0.473    5
 6.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:14.487 +  0.723    4
 7.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:14.888 +  1.124    8
 8.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:15.159 +  1.395   25
 9.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:15.661 +  1.897    6
10.  Ammermuller   Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:15.711 +  1.947   22
11.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:16.168 +  2.404    6
12.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:16.534 +  2.770   16
13.  Viso          Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:16.737 +  2.973   32
14.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:17.047 +  3.283   14
15.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:17.311 +  3.547    8
16.  Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:17.388 +  3.624   14
17.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:17.744 +  3.980    6
18.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  No time              1
19.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  No time              1
20.  Albers        Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  No time              1
21.  Monteiro      Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  No time              1
22.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  No time              1
23.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  No time              1
24.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  No time              1
25.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  No time              1
26.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)
27.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)
28.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)
29.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)

All Timing Unofficial