Alonso clinched last year's title in Brazil when it was the third-to-last race of the season. He needed only a third-place finish to beat Kimi Raikkonen at the time.
Alonso is racing with a slower but more durable engine than teammate Giancarlo Fisichella this weekend.
"There is a small difference," he said. "It's the last evolution for Fisichella and I have the normal one we raced the last couple of races. For sure in the race (Fisichella is) allowed to use more revs compared to me, but I was not planning to use any of them with the old one or the new one anyway."
Alonso, driving his last race before moving to McLaren, is seeking his second straight Formula One title and another constructor's crown for Renault. Schumacher hopes for an eighth title for himself and 15th for Ferrari, which trails Renault by 11 points in the constructors' race. A maximum of 18 points are still at stake.
"Our aim is clearly to try and win the constructors' championship and that will require a one-two finish," Schumacher said.
Schumacher's teammate Felipe Massa, racing in front of his home crowd, was 17th fastest on Friday with 1:14.561.
Tests drivers dominated Friday's practice. Toyota's Jarno Trulli had the best time for race-day drivers with 1:13.483, fourth fastest overall.
Neither Schumacher nor Alonso, who has a 126-116 lead in the standings, posted a time in the day's first practice session, which had McLaren's Raikkonen, runner-up in Brazil the past two years, finishing first in 1:13.764.
Another practice session is set for Saturday morning, with qualifying for the 71-lap feature set for Saturday afternoon.
