11:55 Good morning everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for coverage and rolling updates from the final round of the 2012 FIA Formula 1 world championship. The sport has travelled south to the classic Interlagos circuit, near Sao Paulo, for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

So it all comes down to this. In approximately 54 hours, either Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso will join an exclusive club and become triple world champion. It is a fascinating prospect and, as things stand, the odds are stacked in the German's favour.

But Ferrari will do everything in its power to bring the crown back to Maranello and send both Italy and Spain into party mode.

We will be with you to cover every move that the title protagonists make over the next three days and the action kicks off in just a few minutes with the first practice session. As always, there will be a round of installation laps, then some straight line aerodynamics tests, before the teams and drivers settle into some baseline set-up runs in the second half of the session.

11:56 Here's how the standings look heading into the title decider:

World Championship standings, round 19:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:   
 1.  Vettel       273        1.  Red Bull-Renault          440
 2.  Alonso       260        2.  Ferrari                   367
 3.  Raikkonen    206        3.  McLaren-Mercedes          353
 4.  Hamilton     190        4.  Lotus-Renault             302
 5.  Webber       167        5.  Mercedes                  136
 6.  Button       163        6.  Sauber-Ferrari            124
 7.  Massa        107        7.  Force India-Mercedes       99
 8.  Grosjean      96        8.  Williams-Renault           76

11:57 There has been plenty of talk about weather conditions for this weekend's title showdown - and with good reason - but all that lies ahead. Today, it is dry and fine at the 4.309km Interlagos circuit with sunshine dominating.

A light breeze is blowing from the north-west and air temperature will climb to a warm and toasty 32 degrees Celsius this afternoon.

3 min: After a conservative approach for Austin last weekend, Pirelli arrives at the well-known Interlagos with an allocation its medium and hard compounds.

While rain is set to play a major part in the weekend, today's dry sessions are also a great chance for teams to test sets of prototype 2013 rubber, generating valuable data on the revised compound and construction for next year.

With a plentiful allocation of development rubber and the usual practice tyres, the fervent fans can expect a decent amount of running in this first session.

11:58 Giedo van der Garde is again testing for Caterham this morning, taking Kovalainen's car out in the first session.

11:59 Valtteri Bottas gets a final go behind the wheel of Bruno Senna's Williams for this session. The Finn has performed well in these outings.

0 min: Practice is underway in Brazil.

0 min: Vettel is in his RB8 and keeping his body temperature down with some cool air, as the first cars exit the garages.

0 min: Vergne, Ricciardo, Bottas and di Resta are quickly out onto the circuit.

0 min: Grosjean in the Lotus and Kobayashi in his Sauber head out for an initial lap or two.

1 min: Track temperature is already up to 33 degrees Celsius, as Hulkenberg joins them on track for an installation run.

2 min: More drivers heading out now with Raikkonen and Hamilton, competing for third place in the drivers' standings here, now underway.

2 min: Michael Schumacher heads out to begin work at his final Formula 1 weekend. Installation run first up for the German.

2 min: Di Resta crosses the start-finish line and begins a second tour of the circuit.

3 min: Bottas also works through a second lap and he comes through to set the first time of the weekend - 1m21.218s.

4 min: Hard tyres for most on these installation laps, with the orange-marked development 2013 rubber also seeing some action.

4 min: Vettel comes in to complete his installation run. Webber and Rosberg are on the circuit.

4 min: Raikkonen has continued into a second lap with his Lotus.

5 min: Bottas comes back into the pits after a short three-lap run. His is the only time on the board.

6 min: "Thank you McLaren," says the lettering atop Hamilton's helmet as he begins a final weekend with the team.

7 min: Rosberg completed two laps. He then came through the pits and rejoined the circuit.

8 min: Kobayashi and Perez are already back on track as Sauber begins its attempt to grab fifth in the constructors' points.

8 min: Rosberg is running with the orange marked Pirelli development tyre and a sensor rack at the rear of the car. He continues into another lap to gather data.

10 min: Rosberg returns to the pits at the end of his fourth lap and the engineers will assess the data from that interesting sensor array.

11 min: Perez completes his first lap of the day in 1m17.750s as he tests the development tyres.

12 min: A little quicker the next time around for Perez with 1m17.121s as he recovers from a lockup into the Senna S.

13 min: More grip found by Perez now as he makes the benchmark a 1m15.869s.

13 min: Hulkenberg joins the circuit in his Force India. Schumacher and Webber are also on track.

14 min: Glock ends his lap in current second fastest as the Marussia team begins its efforts to secure 10th in the points.

15 min: Pic, newly announced as a Caterham driver for 2013, joins the order in fifth.

15 min: Schumacher joins the fun with a time of 1m17.698s and he goes second to Perez on the early leaderboard.

15 min: Hamilton tops the first sector as he begins a run in the McLaren.

17 min: Hamilton comes around in 1m14.374s to top the early times.

17 min: Replays being fed in from the host broadcaster from the installation lap, showing Red Bull also running with a complex sensor array, looking specifically at airflow coming from the rear wheels and those development tyres.

18 min: Schumacher came back into the pits after a short run. He improved to 1m17.437s and lies third, behind Hamilton and Perez.

18 min: Petrov clocks 1m19.383s for fifth fastest as he tests development rubber on the Caterham.

19 min: Hamilton locks up into the first corner as he continues on the 2013 tyres.

19 min: Maldonado is now on track in the Williams. Five drivers out there for the moment.

20 min: Daniel Ricciardo heads out for a run in the Toro Rosso, as Maldonado goes third with a time of 1m16.249s.

20 min: Hamilton finds more speed in the experimental tyres now as he improves the benchmark to 1m14.131s.

21 min: "These tyres are overheating," is the feedback from Hamilton on next year's Pirellis.

21 min: Vergne is on track, while team-mate Ricciardo is coming round to complete his first timed lap of the weekend.

22 min: Ricciardo moves into seventh with a lap of 1m18.152s.

23 min: Vettel is on track and coming towards the end of his lap out of the pits.

24 min: Rosberg is also on the circuit, as Vettel begins what could be his first timed lap here.

25 min: Vettel rounds Juncao with those development tyres bolted on and goes third with 1m15.909s.

25 min: Petrov gets a wobble on at Descida do Lago as he tests the development tyres in his Caterham.

26 min: Caterham is also telling Petrov to keep his foot off the brakes while still on the throttle.

26 min: Vettel continues on for a second effort and improves by more than half-a-second with 1m14.443s. He is up to second spot, behind Hamilton.

27 min: Massa is out on track with the development tyres while Alonso watches on from his comfy chair at the back of the garage.

27 min: Rosberg is down in 11th spot with 1m18.028s, as he builds up speed.

28 min: Vettel has backed off on his third timed lap. He comes through with no improvement.

28 min: Massa is up to third fastest on the development tyres, a second off Hamilton's leading pace.

29 min: Maldonado is back on track for his second run since the installation lap. Hamilton leads the pack with Vettel second, Massa third and the Williams driver in fourth spot.

29 min: Raikkonen is back in the Lotus garage after reporting on the radio concerns of a rough-sounding engine. Mechanics are investigating.

30 min: Schumacher and Hulkenberg are on the circuit for a run, as Vettel remains out there gathering data on those orange marked tyres.

31 min: After a couple of laps curing the tyres, Vettel is now quickest on the circuit on his next effort.

32 min: But he is unable to knock Hamilton off the top spot. 1m14.165s for the German, just 0.034s down on the McLaren driver.

33 min: Hulkenberg completes his timed lap and is down in 15th with 1m17.821s, as he builds up the pace.

33 min: Button returns to the track after a spell in the garage having a sensor unit removed. He clocks 1m14.217s on the development tyre, third fastest.

34 min: Hulkenberg goes on and moves up to fifth with 1m15.602s, but only briefly, as his team-mate di Resta takes that place with 1m15.448s.

35 min: Massa improves his best for fourth fastest as Alonso finally emerges from the Ferrari garage.

35 min: Vettel is back into the pits after a run of nine laps there in the Red Bull. Important data gathered for his team and Pirelli for 2013.

36 min: Hamilton continues to lead the pack with 1m14.131s, with Vettel 0.034s back, Button third, Massa fourth and di Resta in fifth spot.

36 min: Hulkenberg is sixth in the other Force India, ahead of Maldonado seventh and Perez in eighth position.

37 min: Webber moves into ninth with a time of 1m15.935s, at the completion of his first timed lap of the weekend.

37 min: Alonso is trying the race-spec hard tyres on his Ferrari, with this weekend clearly more important to him than next year.

38 min: Massa continues to evaluate the future rubber, clocking 1m14.716s to improve his fourth fastest time. He's now five tenths off Hamilton.

38 min: Webber is also running with the orange Pirelli development tyre. He is up to sixth - 1m15.134s.

39 min: Alonso goes fifth fastest in 1m14.792s.

39 min: Just as in Austin last weekend, HRT appears to be running a light programme to conserve parts. De la Rosa and Karthikeyan have only completed an installation lap so far.

39 min: Meanwhile, work continues down in the Lotus garage as the team try to get Raikkonen's engine running smoothly.

40 min: Maldonado has slipped down the classification to 10th place. He is back out to embark on another run in the Williams.

42 min: Alonso takes fourth fastest away from his team-mate as Hamilton continues to report overheating on his tyres.

43 min: Webber makes a slight improvement with 1m14.949s, as he continues round on that development compound. He is seventh in the standings.

45 min: Maldonado has improved with a lap of 1m15.098s, but then makes an error at the Descida do Lago on his next effort.

46 min: Grosjean is now up to sixth fastest in his Lotus while Raikkonen remains in the garage for engine repairs.

46 min: Rosberg moves up one spot to 14th with a time of 1m16.553s.

47 min: Glock is next to run wide at Descida do Lago as he tests the development tyres on his Marussia.

48 min: Vettel is back on the circuit in the sunshine. He begins a timed lap.

49 min: In the meantime, his team-mate Webber has found another marginal improvement, with 1m14.900s. He remains in seventh position.

51 min: Ricciardo improves in the Toro Rosso with a time of 1m16.459s. He moves up to 14th and is half-a-second clear of team-mate Vergne (18th).

52 min: Webber has returned to the pits at the end of that lengthy run on the development tyre. Vettel presses on and is three laps into his latest run.

52 min: Little movement on the timesheet at the moment with several drivers now making the move to the regular hard tyres.

52 min: Ricciardo continues to hammer round and improves to 12th with a lap of 1m15.587s, jumping ahead of Hulkenberg and Rosberg.

52 min: With Pirelli looking at a softer range of compounds for next year, the development rubber is likely to be quicker over a single lap.

53 min: Vettel is now fastest in the first sector of his latest lap.

53 min: But the German loses a couple of tenths compared to Hamilton through the middle sector. He does improve, with 1m14.140s.

54 min: That lap leaves Vettel still second to Hamilton, but the gap between the pair has been shaved down to 0.009s.

55 min: Oh, we have movement at HRT finally, as de la Rosa leaves the garage and begins his first run since the installation lap.

56 min: Raikkonen is back underway in his Lotus to see if the team has cured his rough-sounding engine.

56 min: Di Resta delivers a slight improvement, with 1m14.900s. He is eighth in the classification, just ahead of team-mate Hulkenberg.

58 min: De la Rosa gets on the board with a lap of 1m19.117s. His team-mate Karthikeyan has just joined the circuit.

58 min: Raikkonen returns to the Lotus pit after a single lap and it still doesn't look like the Renault is running smoothly in that Lotus.

58 min: Lotus radio traffic confirms that Raikkonen still has an engine problem.

59 min: Webber is back out there to begin another run in the Red Bull with just over 30 minutes of the first practice session remaining.

61 min: Karthikeyan has posted 1m18.666s, slotting in 23rd and half-a-second shy of team-mate de la Rosa. They continue to circulate.

62 min: More drivers switching to the race rubber now, with laptimes often falling short of those on the development tyres.

62 min: Meantime, much further up the list, Webber has improved to fourth spot with a time of 1m14.514s. He is 0.37s down on team-mate Vettel.

62 min: Button tops the final sector time as his McLaren proves strong on the uphill climb back to the pits. He is still under a tenth off Hamilton.

64 min: A better lap this time round for Vettel, but he loses one-tenth of the second through Juncao and up the hill to the line. He remains in second spot.

64 min: Massa reports oversteer in his Ferrari as Alonso heads in for a change of front wing design.

64 min: Webber does find another reasonable improvement and jumps ahead of Button and into third place with 1m14.198s.

65 min: The top four drivers are now covered by just 0.086s. Hamilton leads the quartet, ahead of Vettel, Webber and Button. Alonso is 0.474s back.

66 min: Vettel has returned to the pits, completing another run of just under 10 laps.

67 min: Plenty of running this morning for the fans in the stands, with the double allocation of tyres getting the drivers out on track.

67 min: De la Rosa managed to move ahead of Pic, into 21st place with a time of 1m17.755s. He has since returned to the pits.

68 min: So that was an eight lap run for the Spaniard. Karthikeyan is also back in after a seven lap stint. He is still 23rd.

68 min: Garage visit again for Raikkonen, who is the only man yet to set a time amid ongoing engine strife at Lotus.

69 min: Vettel remains in the car, while routine work is carried out by the mechanics. Webber is still out there, but no further improvement so far.

70 min: Webber comes back in to end a similar length run to team-mate Vettel. They have each completed 24 laps of the circuit this morning.

71 min: Maldonado registers a slight improvement, with 1m15.015s. He jumps ahead of Hulkenberg and into ninth place.

71 min: Alonso continues on a long run with the harder tyres as he completes a back-to-back comparison of Ferrari's front wing options.

72 min: It is pretty quiet out there right now with just five drivers on track. Schumacher joins them for another run in the Mercedes. He is 19th.

73 min: Rosberg joins the racetrack, as Schumacher launches into a timed lap in the other car.

75 min: Schumacher comes through at the end of his first timed lap on this run with no improvement. Rosberg has just started a lap. He is 15th.

76 min: Both McLaren drivers are back on track for a late run with the race-spec hard tyres.

76 min: Schumacher carries on and finds some time. He is up to 16th and just one-tenth shy of Rosberg, after posting 1m16.416s.

77 min: Vettel rejoins the circuit for a final run with just over 12 minutes of the session remaining. The top four are still covered by 0.086s.

78 min: Raikkonen's Lotus is finally healthy as he crosses the line for a first time of 1m16.979s.

79 min: Hamilton and Raikkonen dispute track position over the line as the pair explore the dusty off-line areas.

80 min: De la Rosa is back out for a second run. Pic had jumped ahead of him again to 22nd with a 0.5s gap.

81 min: Massa has spun his Ferrari under power at Turn 9 but gets back underway without too much drama.

81 min: Hulkenberg improves with a time of 1m15.050s. He is 10th in the classification, three-tenths down on Force India team-mate di Resta.

81 min: De la Rosa logs 1m17.678s and trims that gap to Charles Pic by one-tenth.

82 min: Karthikeyan is also out for a few more laps in the other HRT. He is a couple of tenths back from de la Rosa, in 24th and last position.

83 min: Raikkonen continues to progress up the order with his relatively fresh tyres, going 15th in the repaired Lotus.

84 min: Little mention of Bottas in the session this morning. He has quietly put in 18 laps and has just improved to 13th with 1m15.413s.

84 min: Vettel mentions on the team radio that he can feel a vibration - most likely as a result of locking up somewhere on his hard compound tyres.

85 min: All but Alonso on track at the moment as teams take advantage of the plentiful rubber supply for some late runs.

86 min: But little movement on the timesheet as drivers continue to find the weekend's hard rubber to be slower than the softer development Pirelli.

86 min: Vergne heads out late and we have all 24 drivers on the track with a little more than three minutes remaining.

87 min: De la Rosa gets out of the traffic jam and into the pits, ending his second run still in 23rd place with no further improvement.

87 min: Karthikeyan follows his team-mate in and that is the end of the session for HRT.

88 min: Alonso, who has focussed on race preparations so far, is now giving the development tyre a whirl.

89 min: Vergne completes a quick stop in the pitlane and rejoins the circuit. He is 16th in the standings, around half-a-second down on his team-mate Ricciardo.

89 min: Glock is the latest spinner, rotating the Marussia at Laranjinha.

90 min: The flag is out on first practice at Interlagos.

13:30 Schumacher improves on his final lap of the session, with a time of 1m15.114s. He moves up the list to 11th spot.

13:31 Alonso clocks a late improvement on the development rubber with a 1m14.392s for fifth fastest.

13:31 Lewis Hamilton tops the first practice session at Interlagos with 1m14.131s, ahead of Vettel, Webber and Button.

13:32 The top four drivers are covered by just 0.086s, with Alonso fifth and trimming the gap down to 0.261s with that late improvement.

13:33 Massa is sixth in the other Ferrari, while Grosjean ends the session in seventh, di Resta eighth, Maldonado ninth and Hulkenberg 10th.

13:34 Other notables: Schumacher improved to 11th at the end of the session, while Raikkonen is only 16th after engine woes truncated his running.

13:34 Rosberg ended his session in a lowly 18th spot, more than two seconds off the leading pace in the second Mercedes.

13:35 So it's tight at the front with Alonso tracking the top four closely. Join us later for more practice action from a sunny Interlagos.