Hamilton quickest in Brazil

SAO PAULO: McLaren’s championship leader Lewis Hamilton set the pace in yesterday’s free practice for the title-deciding Brazilian Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old Briton, who could become Formula One’s first rookie champion as well as the youngest on Sunday, topped the timesheets in the day’s second session with a lap of 1:12.767.

His Spanish team-mate, double world champion Fernando Alonso, was second in 1:12.889 on a drying track at Interlagos.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, the last man in the three-way title battle, had led a Ferrari one-two in the wet morning session with a lap of 1:19.580.

The Finn, seven points behind Hamilton and three adrift of Alonso, slipped to fourth in the afternoon behind Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa – last year’s winner in his home city.

Raikkonen needs to win tomorrow’s race and hope his McLaren rivals slip up if he is to have a realistic chance of lifting a Formula One crown that has eluded him before.

Alonso won both his previous titles at Interlagos and hopes for a third in a row tomorrow to make him the first driver since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957 to win back-to-back championships with different teams.

Hamilton’s strong showing on a track he saw for the first time only on Thursday was overshadowed by a rule breach in the first session that saw him summoned by stewards.

The governing body said he had used two sets of wet-weather tyres, instead of the one allowed.

There is no set punishment for the offence and McLaren said they had simply made a mistake.

Meanwhile, Hamilton told a press conference on Thursday that his failure to win the Formula One championship in China this month has made him more relaxed and stronger ahead of tomorrow’s Brazilian title decider.

“It definitely didn’t make me more nervous. If anything it took pressure off my shoulders and I think I came out of it even stronger,” McLaren's 22-year-old British rookie said.

“I thought it would knock my confidence and put me on the back foot but I went away and thought about the weekend and I think now I’m even stronger than I was, for whatever reason,” he added.

“It was a good learning experience and coming here I feel a lot different compared to the last race. In the last race all the pressure was building up and everything was going on, on the Thursday and the Friday, and it wasn’t a great weekend.

“But I feel totally relaxed now and fully confident in the team and our ability to challenge for the title,” said Hamilton, who relaxed at his parents’ home in England after returning from China. – Reuters