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Published: Saturday October 17, 2009 MYT 9:51:00 AM

Barrichello edges Button in Brazilian GP practice

SAO PAULO (AP): Home-crowd favorite Rubens Barrichello started well in his quest to keep Brawn GP teammate Jenson Button from clinching the Formula One title, finishing ahead of him during practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday.

Renault's Fernando Alonso had the fastest time of the day at the 4.3-kilometer (2.6-mile) Interlagos track with a lap of 1 minute, 12.314 seconds, 0.043 ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi and 0.145 in front of Barrichello.

Button, who has a 14-point lead in the drivers' standings and needs only a third-place finish on Sunday to claim his first F1 title, finished fifth in 1:12.523, and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel _ beside Barrichello, the only other title contender - was seventh in 1:12.611.

"We struggled a bit on new tires this afternoon so it was hard to get a balance," Button said. "We need to work on that overnight. We are not comfortable yet."

Red Bull's Mark Webber, who had the fastest time in the first 90-minute session, was fourth in the afternoon session in 1:12.514. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was sixth in 1:12.605, while defending champion Lewis Hamilton was 10th with a time of 1:12.749.

In the first session, Barrichello was second, Vettel third and Button only seventh.

The 37-year-old Barrichello, looking forward to support from about 70,000 fans on Sunday, is trying to win at home for the first time in his 17-year career. He said there's plenty of reasons to be confident going into the season's penultimate race.

"It's all together, the good vibe of the people, the track, a good setup," he said. "I just have to go flat out, that's all, and forget about the rest."

Both sessions were run mostly under dry conditions although light rain at times kept the drivers off the track. Practice was briefly stopped with 31 minutes left in the first session after Renault's Sebastian Grosjean ran off the track and struck a sign made out of foam. The session was red-flagged so the track could be cleaned.

More rain is forecast for Saturday's qualifying run and occasional showers are expected on Sunday.

"We did some good runs with positive results and hopefully tomorrow (Saturday) we can continue this good work," two-time world champion Alonso said. "I think that the weather will be the key to this weekend so we need to react quickly to any changes and be flexible."

The ever-changing Sao Paulo weather has always been a factor at the Brazilian GP.

Last year, a downpour with just a few laps to go helped decide the title, which was won by Hamilton thanks to a pass on the last turn of the final lap.

Button arrives at the Brazilian GP with a comfortable lead in the drivers' standings and in good position to secure his first F1 title.

In addition to the 14-point advantage over Barrichello, he has a 16-point lead over Vettel with two races to go. A victory is worth 10 points, and second through eighth are 8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

A fifth-place finish would be enough for Button in Brazil if Barrichello fails to win, and the Briton will also secure the title if he finishes in front of his opponents.

Button is trying to give Britain back-to-back F1 titles for the first time since Graham Hill won in 1968 and Jackie Stewart in 1969.

While Barrichello will have the home-crowd support, the 22-year-old Vettel's confidence has been boosted by a victory at the Japanese GP two weeks ago.

Brawn GP needs an eighth-place finish by either one of its cars on Sunday to become the first British team to win the constructors' title since McLaren in 1998, and the first team to win it in its debut season.

Local favorite Felipe Massa is out of the Brazilian GP as he continues to recover from his near-fatal crash in a Ferrari at the Hungarian GP in July. He's replaced by Giancarlo Fisichella, who was fourth in the first session and last in the second.

The season will end with the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP on Nov. 1.

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