Brazilian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton sets the pace in first practice at Interlagos ahead of season-ending race As for Ferrari's Alonso, 13 points behind Vettel in the standings, the 31-year-old Spaniard was fifth on the time sheet, a quarter of a second off the pace. If this is an early indicator of the shape of things to come over the course of the weekend, then fifth on the grid in qualifying tomorrow is going to be the best Alonso can hope for. Team-mate Felipe Massa, who has rediscovered his form of late, was sixth, half a second behind, followed by Lotus' Romain Grosjean and a more encouraging performance from Force India's Paul di Resta. With just two points from his past five races, Di Resta has struggled with his car of late, but the Scot found himself just six tenths of a second behind Hamilton. Williams' Pastor Maldonado, and Di Resta's team-mate Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10, with Mercedes' Michael Schumacher - the seven- times champion in his 308th and last race before he retires for a second time - 11th and just under a second down. Sauber pairing Sergio Perez, in his final race for the team before filling Hamilton's seat at McLaren, and team-mate Kamui Kobayashi, seemingly out of a job given reserve Esteban Gutiérrez will replace him next season, were 12th and 13th. Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen, who missed his media duties yesterday after arriving back late from a short break in Los Angeles, was 1.5 secs down in 16th. Usual suspects Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan occupied the final two places on the time sheet for HRT, who potentially bow out after Sunday's race given their financial difficulties, the duo both just over 3.5 secs adrift.