Hamilton on top but McLaren fined

INTERLAGOS, Brazil -- Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time of the day in practice for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix -- but his McLaren team were fined $15,000 by race stewards after using two sets of wet-weather tyres, which is in breach of F1 regulations that state only one is permitted.

Hamilton and a McLaren representative discussed the matter with stewards, and the penalty was applied after the team admitted the tyre error.

The same penalty applies to Honda and Super Aguri as Jenson Button and Takuma Sato also breached the regulations.

All three teams also have to return one set of wets to ensure no advantage is gained by using part-worn wet tyres.

Team boss Ron Dennis added: "It was a 100 per cent team mistake. Lewis did an installation lap on one set of wet tyres and we just put on another set. It was nothing to do with Lewis.

"He only did an in-and-out lap. It wasn't as if there was any advantage, but it's clearly a breach of a rule. We are trying so hard and maybe there's a bit too much tension in the team that has led to a mistake.

"We can do no more than our best, and we are really trying hard. People make mistakes. I'm not trivialising it, but it perhaps shows we are all human. There's a rule there, we broke it, and now we have to get on with it," added Dennis.

Meanwhile, Hamilton, who will win the title on Sunday if he finishes at least second, can take heart from his first outing on this circuit.

Leaden skies and light rain had dominated the first session, but on a drying track in the afternoon, he was quickest with a lap of one minute 12.76 seconds.

Team-mate and title rival Fernando Alonso, who completed only an installation lap in the morning run, was second fastest, just 0.12 seconds behind the Briton he trails by four points in the standings.

Then came the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who had been quickest in the wet in the initial 90-minute period.

Both drivers were just over 0.3 seconds behind Hamilton, followed by Giancarlo Fisichella in his Renault, the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica and the Williams duo of Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima.

It was a fine performance from the 22-year-old Japanese driver on his race debut following the retirement of Alex Wurz after the race in China. E-mail to a friend