Renault's Fernando Alonso made his peace with future Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa Friday before setting the pace in free practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. While the Spaniard lapped with a best time of one minute 12.314 seconds, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was the fastest of the three championship contenders ahead of what could be a title-deciding race Sunday. The Brawn GP driver was second in the morning session, behind Red Bull's Mark Webber, and third in the afternoon at what amounts to a neighborhood track for the Sao Paulo native. His teammate and championship leader Jenson Button, who could take the crown Sunday with a race to spare, was seventh and fifth respectively. Australian Webber had lapped the anti-clockwise circuit in 1:12.463 seconds before lunch, with occasional rain interrupting proceedings. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, the third man in the title fight, managed the third and seventh best times in the two sessions. Barrichello is 14 points adrift of Button, with Vettel - winner of the previous race in Japan - two further back. Alonso had been in the spotlight Thursday in continued fallout from his team's involvement in a race-fixing scandal. While he has been cleared of any involvement in an affair that landed Renault a suspended permanent ban, Massa told Brazilian reporters his future team mate must have known what was going on. The Brazilian is still recovering from the serious head injuries suffered in Hungary in July and is not racing this weekend. The two met between the sessions in the Interlagos paddock, in what Ferrari presented as a chance encounter, and were photographed smiling and shaking hands. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who beat Massa to the title at Interlagos in a season-ending thriller last year, was 10th in the afternoon after lapping fifth fastest in the morning. The opening session was halted briefly when Renault's French rookie Romain Grosjean blasted through a polystyrene advertising block and scattered a cloud of debris across the track. Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, who was second fastest in the afternoon, spun and hit the tire wall backwards when the action resumed, damaging his car's rear suspension. Vatanen takes legal action FIA presidential candidate Ari Vatanen took legal action in France Friday as the battle for the most powerful position in world motorsport turned increasingly ugly. The International Automobile Federation said the Finn had served on them an application to the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance asking the court to impose measures for the presidential election on Oct. 23. The FIA, Formula One's governing body, added however in a statement at the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix that their existing procedures already provided more safeguards that the former world rally champion was seeking.
