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Sprinklings of rain which left parts of Interlagos damp resulted in a slightly jumbled set of times after the second practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Friday afternoons are traditionally a time when teams carry out their tyre evaluation and long distance running, so not too much should be read into some times, as the field of 20 cars was separated by 1.395s.

In the end, Fernando Alonso timed things right for Renault to set the fastest time of the day in 1m 12.296s, just pipping local hero Felipe Massa who had previously battled with Jarno Trulli to set the pace. The Brazilian lapped his Ferrari in 1m 12.353s, the Italian his Toyota in 1m 12.435s.

Lewis Hamilton ended the session only ninth for McLaren, behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m 12.600s), Red Bull’s Mark Webber (1m 12.650s), Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel (1m 12.687s), Renault’s Nelson Piquet (1m 12.703s) and Williams’ Nico Rosberg (1m 12.761s). The championship leader worked through his planned programme and just missed a final shot at a fast time and had to be content with 1m 12.827s. No too much should be read into that.

Kazuki Nakajima completed the top 10 for Williams with 1m 12.886s, then came Red Bull’s David Coulthard (1m 12.896s) and Robert Kubica (1m 12.971s).

Nick Heidfeld was right behind his BMW Sauber team mate, albeit in the 1m 13s bracket on 1m 13.038s, ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock (1m 13.041s), McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen (1m 13.213s), Honda’s Rubens Barrichello (1m 13.221s), Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais (1m 13.273s), Honda’s Jenson Button (1m 13.341s) and Force India’s Adrian Sutil (1m 13.428s) and Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 13.691s).

A more accurate indicator of performance should come in the final practice session on Saturday morning.