Lewis Hamilton fastest in Brazil practice despite spin and gear problem

14 November 2015 02:46

Lewis Hamilton overcame a spin and a stoppage to head the timesheets in final practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The newly-crowned triple world champion, who was half a second slower than Nico Rosberg on Friday, lost control of his Mercedes at Turn 11.

But Hamilton, who also stopped on track claiming to have "lost gears" earlier in the session, avoided any damage to his car and later posted a best lap of one minute 12.070 seconds to finish ahead of Rosberg.

The German, in the sister Mercedes, was 0.123sec slower than his team-mate with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in third, over half a second down on Hamilton.

Hamilton, who is still awaiting his first victory at the home of his idol Ayrton Senna, arrived here a day late after he lost control of his £1.5million limited edition Pagani Zonda supercar and crashed into a stationary vehicle in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Hamilton, also recovering from a virus, avoided injury in the incident which he said was a result of "heavy partying".

But Mercedes have lent their full support to the Briton despite him missing a sponsors' event in Sao Paulo on Wednesday after he was urged to delay his flight on medical grounds.

The 30-year-old appears to be unaffected by the furore, finishing Friday's opening session and final practice on top of the timesheets.

Romain Grosjean, the only French driver on the grid, is sporting an armband of the country's national colours in the wake of Friday night's terror attacks in Paris.

France's FIA president Jean Todt also arrived in the Interlagos paddock, as planned, on Saturday morning.

On track, Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth for Ferrari with Valtteri Bottas, who has been handed a three-place grid penalty for overtaking under red flags in practice on Friday, in fifth.

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was sixth, followed by Grosjean, Sergio Perez, Pastor Maldonado and Max Verstappen. Jenson Button, who won his last race here back in 2012, was only 18th.

Source: PA