Lewis Hamilton leaps to the top of the timesheets with a 1:13.468, half a second quicker than Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who has headed back to the pits.

With a little over an hour remaining, here's how they stand.

1) Ham 2) Ros 3) Kvy 4) Alo 5) Vet 6) Ric 7) Ver 8) Gro 9) Rai 10) Nas 11) Mas 12) Hul 13) Mal 14) Sut 15) Jun 16) But 17) Gut 18) Mag

Image source, Getty Images

Daniel Ricciardo has had a stunning debut season with Red Bull, taking the first three wins of his career. He's also the only non-Mercedes driver to stand on the top step so you may be unsurprised to hear he is likely clinch third in the championship this weekend, as a top-two finish would guarantee it no matter what Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso do.

The times are tumbling, with Lewis Hamilton improving to a 1:14.172. However he's bumped down to second almost immediately as Nico Rosberg pips him with a 1:14.001. Romain Grosjean goes a shock third in the Lotus, though I don't imagine he'll stay there long.

Daniel Ricciardo is Mercedes' closest challenger at the moment, the Australian slotting into third, one tenth off the pace. Kimi Raikkonen is fourth with Felipe Nasr fifth and Sebastian Vettel sixth.

The times are coming thick and fast now with Nico Rosberg setting the early pace with a 1:15.002, three tenths of a second quicker than Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Daniel Juncadella, stepping in for Sergio Perez at Force India for this session, gets it all wrong at Turn Six, spinning into the run-off. He gets going again, but he's picked up a couple of big flat spots.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Interlagos

"The predicted rain is bad news for Williams. They are establishing themselves as the second fastest team after Mercedes - even if they ended up being beaten by Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull in Austin last weekend after a very impressive performance by the Australian.

"But the car lacks overall downforce so they struggle in the wet. 'We do prefer dry, definitely,' Valtteri Bottas said. 'The main places where we're losing to Mercedes and Red Bull is still the corners and the more time we spend in the corners the worse it is, so we do like dry. But if it's wet. We are optimistic we have improved a lot since the beginning of the season in terms of managing the tyres. And it is a race where anything can happen.'"

Adrian Sutil runs off at Turn Six, the German struggling with oversteer in the slippery conditions.

The Sauber driver is seemingly without a seat next year after his team announced the signing of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson for 2015 despite Sutil previously saying he has a contract for next season.

Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen sets the first timed lap of the day with a 1:19.999 but the young Dutchman was really struggling for grip. With little running on this track before F1's arrival, it'll take some time for the circuit to rubber in.

Codswallop T Bear: If Bernie insists on double points at the season finale, why not give the "star" GPs all double points, Monaco, Spa, Suzuka?

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Interlagos

"Fernando Alonso might not be in the world title battle, but his status in the sport and the apparent uncertainly over his future means he is still in the headlines. His expected move to McLaren next year has still not been announced, although it is expected to be finalised shortly, even if it is not already. But he said there was no rush to sort it out. 'I don't think there is any deadline,' he said on Thursday.

"'One week is McLaren saying something, last week it was (Lotus team principal Gerard) Lopez saying he was in talks about me for future, which is true, but not for F1, about another project we may have together, but on the business side not F1. Every day there is a rumour. Even today I read I bought Marussia for $1. But it's absolutely not true. It's the same thing always. Two or three months ago, I took a decision, I followed that direction, and hopefully you will know soon.'"

BBC F1 weatherman Ian Fergusson:, external "Looking dry for first practice, turning very warm. It's odds-on to stay dry in second practice with hot and sunny spells. However, by later in the day, showers are likely to be breaking-out in the vicinity, some including overnight.

"Looking ahead to Saturday, there's a moderately-high chance of wet running into qualifying and a fair chance of some residual rain remaining for race day."

Everyone has been out and about for an installation lap before retreating back to the pits. After a dull start, the sun is trying to break through the clouds. Here's BBC weatherman Ian Fergusson with expectations for the weekend...

Image source, Allan McNish on Twitter

Replays show that Jenson Button's car appeared to simply switch itself off, which isn't ideal.

It's a disappointing start to the weekend for Jenson Button, who went out for his installation lap but couldn't make it back to the garage. He's stop at the pit-lane entry and now must wait for his McLaren mechanics to run down and rescue him. BBC F1 analyst Allan McNish suggests it might be an electrical problem.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Interlagos

"Brazil's atmospheric grand prix track is undergoing changes over the next few seasons in an attempt to bring it more into line with the modern standard. The first evidence of these has been seen this year, with a big change to the pit-lane entry. This used to have a hairy-looking end of a wall, which drivers headed directly towards flat out as they emerged onto the curving pit straight. The entry has now been opened out, the margin between the track and pit entry made wider and a little chicane added to slow the cars down."

Ready for the penultimate first practice session of 2014? Let's do this.

We've got a few driver changes for this session with Felipe Nasr, who will join Sauber as a race driver next year, is in Valtteri Bottas' Williams while Max Vertstappen is borrowing Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso. And Daniel Juncadella makes his third first practice appearance of the year, stepping in to Sergio Perez's Force India.

Image source, Jennie Gow on Twitter

It looks like McLaren will be focusing on data gathering in the early part of first practice as they have placed some aero rakes on Kevin Magnussen's car.

Image source, Lotus on Twitter

Lotus:, external It's really groovy on the straight between T6 and T5.