Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in second practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, reversing the advantage his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton held over him in the morning session.
Rosberg finished 0.458s ahead of Hamilton in FP2, despite complaining of a number of minor technical issues during the session and running wide and off the track at Juncao in the final 15 minutes. He held the fastest sector times in all three sectors and his advantage of nearly half a second is significant on such a short lap. Ferrari finished third and fourth, with Sebastian Vettel 0.960s off Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen 1.115s off the Mercedes. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was fifth fastest as he continued to put more mileage on Renault's updated power unit, with a time just 0.085s off Raikkonen's.
Valtteri Bottas was sixth fastest despite a spin at Pinheirinho one hour into the session, but finished ahead of the his fellow Mercedes-powered rivals Romain Grosjean in the Lotus and Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat and home hero Felipe Massa in the Williams rounded out the top, which was covered by 1.463s.
McLaren suffered yet another reliability issue when Fernando Alonso's Honda engine failed in a puff of smoke after 10 laps, while team-mate Jenson Button went on to finish the session 16th with 34 laps. Button seemed busy with aero comparison work late in the session to make up for his team-mate's absence from the session.