Schumacher takes round one

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER won the first round of his final fight with Fernando Alonso following practice for tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

Schumacher finished just over a tenth of a second faster than Alonso at the end of the second hour-long session at Interlagos.

However, the seven-times world champion was forced to settle for the sixth fastest time of the day after clocking one minute 13.713 seconds, with Alonso down in 10th.

Three test drivers — Williams’ Alexander Wurz, Anthony Davidson of Honda and BMW Sauber’s Sebastian Vettel — were out in front, with all three ducking under 73 seconds.

Jarno Trulli was quickest overall of the main drivers as he set a time of 1:13.483 in his Toyota, with Jenson Button two thousandths of a second down for Honda.

Schumacher sat in the garage for the entire 60 minutes of the first session, along with Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa and the Williams duo of Mark Webber and Niko Rosberg.

The 37-year-old German’s inactivity was almost matched by Alonso, as he completed a single installation lap during the first session.

That was unsurprising as the last situation either man needed was an engine problem, resulting in a 10-place grid penalty.

Alonso requires one point to clinch back-to-back world titles, with Schumacher needing to win the race and then hope the 25-year-old Spaniard finishes outside the points if he is to clinch an eighth crown.