Alpine's Ocon tops final practice session in Brazil

Esteban Ocon led the final dress rehearsal ahead of Saturday's Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint event, the Alpine charger edging Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Mercedes' George Russell.

Behind the leading trio, Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton completed the three-team running order in a session mainly devoted to gauging tyre degradation and frip levels for this afternoon's third and final Sprint race of 2022.

• Brazilian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

Drivers took to a bone-dry track amid warm temperatures at the start of FP2 which was just as well for young gun Logan Sargeant whom Williams had entrusted with Alex Albon's car for the session in a bid to boost the American's Superlicence points tally.

Sebastian Vettel, who is racing at Interlagos for the last time in his F1 career, led the field onto the track when the lights went green.

Save for a pair of McLarens and AlphaTauris, all cars were circulating from the get-go, with Russell setting the first relevant time, while Kevin Magnussen - Friday's shock poleman – pumped in the fourth fastest time.

Tyre degradation and grip levels were the main focus for most runners in the session, with the field putting all three of Pirelli's compounds to the task in a bid to choose the best rubber for this afternoon's Sprint.

Lap time improvements were nevertheless in order as the session approached the 30-minute mark, as Alpine's Esteban Ocon - shod with the soft tyre - demonstrated with a 1m14.604s that outpaced Russell by 0.312s.

Just behind the leading duo, Hamilton, Perez and Gasly followed suit. But reading the time screens was a futile exercise given the unknowns regarding fuel levels.

As the Red Bulls upped the pace, Perez slotted into second behind Ocon while Verstappen moved up to fourth just behind Russell. But Alonso then put in a flyer that was good for P4.

The order remained unchanged in the closing minutes of the session, with Ocon getting bragging rights for setting the fastest time, and heading Perez, Russell, Alonso and Verstappen.

Beyond the top five, Hamilton edged Gasly, Schumacher who pipped Magnussen for P8 and Lando Norris who rounded off the top-ten.

Both Ferraris concluded FP2 in the second half of the field, with Sainz in P11 and Leclerc in P13.

Meanwhile, Sargeant, who was 0.3s slower than Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi in the session, bookended the pecking order but comfortably surpassed the 24-lap requirement he needed to earn an extra Superlicence point.

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