The opening practice session of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend saw Mark Webber set the pace in his Red Bull Renault, four-tenths clear of the field. The 90-minute session was somewhat compromised by a light rain shower but Webber was able to move to the head of the timesheets late in the session to record a best lap of 1:12.463s.

Buemi and Button battled for the top spot for the majority of Practice 2, while Fernando Alonso top the top honor away in the closing moments of the session. The entire field, sans Fisichella, was covered by seven tenths of a second which lends one to think that qualifying will be a very close affair.

Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace video preview:

Today Ferrari has announced a three year deal starting next season with 2005 and 2006 World Champion Fernando Alonso. The confirmation of the agreement from the Italian team has been widely expected for several weeks.  The most successful active driver in F1, Alonso allegedly signed his Ferrari contract as long ago as July 2008, according to sources close to the team.

Kimi Raikkonen, although his contract covered the 2010 season, will no longer be a Ferrari driver.

“The Scuderia’s driver line-up next season will therefore be made up of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, with Giancarlo Fisichella in the role of reserve driver,” Ferrari’s statement reads.

“Kimi Raikkonen will leave the team at the end of this current season, after what has been a rewarding and fruitful partnership, which saw him win the Drivers’ title in 2007. He also played a key role in Ferrari’s taking of the Constructor’s title that same year and in 2008.”

Ferrari was obviously very keen to bring 28-year-old Spaniard Alonso aboard, as it has long been obvious that both parties hold mutual interest.  ”We are very proud to welcome to our team another winning driver, who has demonstrated his amazing talent by winning two World Championships in his career to date,” said Team principal Stefano Domenicali.

“Of course, we wish to thank Kimi for everything he has done during his time with Ferrari: in his first year with us, he managed to win the Drivers’ title, thus making his contribution to Ferrari’s history and he played a vital role in our taking of the Constructors’ title in 2007 and 2008,” Domenicali continued, also pointing out Raikkonen’s victory in Belgium this year in what is a difficult season for the team.

“With common consent, we have agreed to terminate the contract binding me to Ferrari to the end of 2010, one year ahead of schedule,” said Raikkonen. “I am very sad to be leaving a team with which I have spent three fantastic years, during which time I won plenty of races. Together, we have won 50% of the world titles in that period and I managed to take the Drivers’ title in 2007, thus achieving the target I had set myself at the start of my career.

“I have always felt at home with everyone here and I will have many happy memories of my time with the team,” the 2007 champion concluded.  Raikkonen will complete the three remaining races of the season with Ferrari. It is rumored the Finn may return to McLaren Mercedes.

The announcement of Fernando Alonso’s move to Ferrari should now open the vanes of the drivers’ market, with a cascade effect leading to further driver confirmations from other teams in the coming days and weeks.

Renault today appeared before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) to face charges relating to the “crash-gate” affair. After the hearing in Paris, which lasted just 90 minutes, the WMSC handed down a rapid verdict.

Renault received a permanent disqualification from the sport, but this is suspended until the end of 2011. Former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from FIA-sanctioned events for an unlimited period and Ex-engineering director Pat Symonds has also been excluded for five years.

Managing director Flavio Briatore and executive director of engineering Pat Symonds were both implicated ahead of today’s hearing and had already left the team as the French car giant said they would not contest the charges. Also, the FIA agreed not to pursue action against Piquet in return for his role in uncovering the details of the scandal.

“Furthermore, (the FIA) does not intend to renew any Superlicence granted to any driver who is associated (through a management contract or otherwise) with Mr. Briatore, or any entity or individual associated with Mr. Briatore. In determining that such instructions should be applicable for an unlimited period, the World Motor Sport Council has had regard not only to the severity of the breach in which Mr. Briatore was complicit but also to his actions in continuing to deny his participation in the breach despite all the evidence.”

Briatore’s firm, FFBB, currently manages Heikki Kovalainen and Mark Webber as well as Renault Development Drivers such as Romain Grosjean and Lucas di Grassi.

While Briatore has been banned from the sport indefinitely with Symonds handed a five year ban, Fernando Alonso “was not in any way involved in Renault F1’s breach of the regulations,” and Nelson Piquet Jr. was immune from sanctions after giving evidence to the FIA.

A transcript of the conversations between Renault team bosses, engineers and driver Nelson Piquet Jr. during last year’s Singapore Grand Prix has been published, adding to the speculation over claims that Piquet was told to crash deliberately in order to aid the chances of his team-mate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race.

Yesterday, Renault’s director of engineering, Pat Symonds, was granted immunity in the FIA’s investigation into the incident if he agrees to provide details of the alleged plan.

Now the Times newspaper has published details of the interactions between Symonds, two Renault engineers and crucially, Flavio Briatore, the team principal, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing on behalf of the driver and the team. In the radio communication, Briatore swears repeatedly and says that Piquet is “not a driver” following the now notorious crash, before later asking: “Is Nelson OK?”

“I can tell you now we are not three-stopping,” Symonds is heard to say on the transcript made by the FIA, the sport’s world governing body.

Later Symonds says to an engineer: “Don’t worry about fuel because I’m going to get him (Alonso) out of this traffic earlier than that.”

Piquet says: “What lap are we in, what lap are we in?”

A Renault engineer then reports: “He just asked: ‘What lap are we in?’”

Symonds replies: “Yeah, tell him that he’s about to complete lap eight.”

Symonds insists Piquet is then told something he should know from his pit board, which is shown to him at the end of every lap. “No, just tell him, he is about, he’s just completing, he’s about to complete lap eight.”

Symonds then says: “Right, I’m going to…I think we’re going to stop him just before we catch him (a reference to the Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima, who was ahead of Alonso) and get him out of it, the reason being we’ve still got this worry on the fuel pump. It’s only a couple of laps short. We’re going to be stopping him early and we’re going to go to lap 40.”

An unnamed engineer asks a few minutes later: “Pat, do you still not think that this is a bit too early? We only did six tenths that lap.”

Symonds replies: “No, no it’s going to be all right.”

“OK, OK, understood,” the engineer says.

Lewis Hamilton’s KERS equipped McLaren Mercedes storms from 4th to 1st and holds it to go on to win his first Grand Prix of the season, elsewhere on the track Alonso’s wheel was spinning off.

Saturday Qualifying Results: