British Grand Prix: Race Report

Lewis Hamilton has won a thrilling, rain soaked British Grand Prix to delight his thousands of partisan home supporters at Silverstone, and his millions of fans across the UK. It was an action packed race from start to finish, which ended up with a couple of surprise podium finishers, some spectacular on track action, and a three way tie for the World Championship lead.

The big question on the grid was one of tyre choice. The rain had been falling intermittently all day long, and the track was decidedly wet for the formation lap. The heavy rain tyre would probably have been the ideal choice for the start given all the standing water, but with 20 cars on track the standing water was going to be lifted from the track within a few laps, so everyone went with the intermediate wet tyres. Inevitably, this would make things extremely treacherous for the first couple of laps.

From the start Kovalainen got a good start from pole, but Webber caught a little too much wheel-spin from P2 and was immediately into the clutches of the fast-starting Hamilton. Lewis was able to put his McLaren right down the inside into Copse, and appeared to leap from fourth to first in the space of one corner. His team mate Kovalainen had other ideas however, and held on tenaciously around the outside of Copse despite some contact with Hamilton. They were side by side going into Maggots, but Lewis recognised discretion was the better part of valour and didn't try anything outrageous on Kovalainen. Great racing from the pair of them.

Coming out of Chapel it all went horribly wrong for Mark Webber. After already losing out to Hamilton and Raikkonen off the start he lost the back end under power and spun 180 degrees. He was left stranded coasting backwards down the Hangar straight, and could do nothing but sit and watch the entire field scream past him, and hope that nobody hit him. All of his superb work from yesterday was completely undone in an instant.

Webber certainly wasn't the only driver to struggle on the opening lap. World Championship leader Massa spun on the exit of Abbey and was swallowed up by the pack. He was to spin again on the second lap of the race on what was a dismal afternoon for the Brazilian. Nakajima also had difficulties at Abbey, bouncing through the gravel. Then David Coulthard, on his last ever home Grand Prix appearance, clipped the rear of Vettel in Brooklands and sent the both spinning off into the gravel for an early bath. That rounded off an horrendous first lap for both Red Bull teams, with only Bourdais managing to keep his car pointy end first.

Out front Hamilton was pressing Kovalainen hard for the lead, with Raikkonen sitting in behind the pair of them and hoping to capitalise on any coming together in front of him. After a couple of laps of great defence from Kovalainen, he eventually got a poor run out of Chapel, allowing Hamilton to close down the Hangar Straight. Heikki could have defended again into Stowe, but his team mate was storming down the straight behind him and any defence would have risked putting both McLarens out of the race. Hamilton dove up the inside, and the 90,000 strong British crowd roared as he took the lead for the first time in the race.

As the standing water cleared and the race settled down into the first stint, Hamilton was edging ahead in the McLaren, with Fernando Alonso putting in a good stint getting up to fourth place, and Mark Webber clawing his way back up the field after his early spin. Massa should also have been streaming up through the backmarkers towards the points, but he was struggling terribly. It took him 16 laps just to get past one car at the back of the field. He may as well not have bothered though, as he was to become very familiar with that last place position throughout the race.

As the end of the first stint approached, Raikkonen was suddenly catching Hamilton at a rate of knots. The McLaren is notoriously hard on its tyres, and again it seemed that the inters were starting to go off for Hamilton. They pitted together less than a second apart. It was in this pitstop that Ferrari's strategy decision threw away any chance of a Kimi win. With the rain clouds closing in Ferrari chose to keep the same, badly worn inter tyres for Kimi. Hamilton changed to fresh inters, and it was clearly the correct choice. As the rain began to fall Kimi's tyres had too little tread left to move the standing water, and Hamilton cruised away at the front at the rate of 4-5 seconds per lap. Kimi had looked seriously capable of taking the win away from McLaren, but all hope of that was now destroyed.

With the rain falling the conditions were incredibly challenging for all the drivers out there. Alonso and Webber were the other drivers that stayed on worn inters along with Kimi, and all three struggled terribly in this stint. Webber ended up spinning several times, as did Kimi. None could match the display of Massa though, who managed to spin at least 5 times throughout the Grand Prix, putting a massive dint in his championship aspirations. However, at least they all managed to finish the race, which is more than could be said of the likes of Sutil, Fisichella, Piquet and Button who all spun off and out of the race. The biggest surprise out of the spinners was championship contender Robert Kubica, who spun at high speed and ditched it in the gravel trap. In truth, it hadn't been a good weekend for him up until that point anyway, as he was being eclipsed by his team mate Heidfeld for the first time in a while.

There were three drivers on a march. Barrichello was on heavy rain tyres and was lapping massively faster than anyone else. He was up as high as second at one point, but a problem with his fuel rig meant he had to make an extra stop and he had to settle for a brilliantly earned third place. Nick Heidfeld was one of the few drivers who was enjoying the conditions on his intermediate tyres. He was driving superbly and was heading through the field at a phenomenal rate. His march through the field included two maneuvers in which he overtook two cars in the space of one corner. He may have been struggling with the set-up of the BMW so far this season, but this performance showed that he is a brilliant racer, and one of the best and boldest overtakers in Formula One.

The other man on a charge though was Lewis Hamilton. On the same intermediate tyres as everyone else he was lapping 4, 5, even 6 seconds per lap faster than some of his rivals at some points during this stint. It was some absolutely mesmerising driving from Hamilton, and it was this stint which set up what ended up being a comfortable victory for Hamilton. He may as well have been on a different race track for that period, such was the difference in speed between Hamilton and his rivals. This was the strongest way possible in answering his critics, who had been questioning the hype surrounding Lewis, and wondering whether he really is all he's cracked up to be. This performance showed that he really is the real deal, and then some.

Although it turned out to be a comfortable victory for Hamilton, that wasn't the end of the fun for the spectators. There were great battles throughout the field right until the final lap of the race. Raikkonen put in a good recovery after his tricky middle stint, and battled his way through the to a strong fourth place. It was a real champion's performance from Kimi, despite his problems. Fernando Alonso too was showing some of the brilliance that took him to back to back titles as he fought with Kimi and Kovalainen for lap after a lap. Eventually he lost out to the two much faster cars, but it was an excellent, battling performance from Alonso.

Even right down to the final corners of the race there was drama, as Nakajima lost seventh place to Jarno Trulli after he had been challenging for sixth with Alonso. It will no doubt have infuriated the Williams team, who had implored the young Japanese to focus on defending from Trulli, and not fighting Alonso for sixth.

So after a stunning driver, arguably the greatest of his short career, Lewis Hamilton now heads a 3-way tie for the World Championship lead with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. With half of the season still to go, it is sure to be a thrilling race for the title all the way to Brazil. With this performance though, and the apparent strength of the McLaren car, Hamilton will now be installed as the bookie's favourite. It was a magnificent performance to win what was a magnificent British Grand Prix, and showed just a great a track Silverstone can be, and how it will be sorely missed from the calendar after next year.

Provisional Race Result
1. Hamilton
2. Heidfeld
3. Barrichello
4. Raikkonen
5. Kovalainen
6. Alonso
7. Trulli
8. Nakajima
9. Rosberg
10. Webber
11. Bourdais
12. Glock
13. Massa
ret Kubica
ret Button
ret Piquet
ret Fisichella
ret Sutil
ret Vettel
ret Coulthard Read more!

Donington to Host British Grand Prix from 2010!

The BRDC and British motor racing fans were given something of a shock today as Bernie Ecclestone announced that Donington Park would be the new home of the British Grand Prix from 2010 onwards. It appears next year's race will be the final Silverstone Grand Prix as Bernie has finally followed through on his repeated threats to take the GP away from Silverstone unless they commit to improving the circuit facilities.

It will be a massive disappointment to Damon Hill and the rest of the BRDC, who have been fighting tooth and nail to secure the funding to improve the track facilities enough to ensure the future of the GP. Silverstone held its very first Grand Prix back in 1950, and it has been a near permanent fixture on the F1 calendar ever since. It has a rich history in the sport, and it will be sorely missed by many. Corners like Copse and the Maggots/Becketts complex are some of the fastest and most thrilling of any F1 circuit, and have been favourites with fans and drivers for many years.

Donington Park last held a Grand Prix back in 1993, when it played host to the rain affected European Grand Prix, won spectacularly by Ayrton Senna. It is a very good circuit, and has held many GT races and MotoGP events over recent years. The facilities aren't yet anywhere near the standard required of an F1 circuit, and I'm sure the BRDC would argue that currently they are way behind Silverstone in that respect. However, there are concrete plans in place for the redevelopment of Donington over the next year, which no doubt proved convincing enough for Bernie.

"Finally the uncertainty is over. A contract has been signed with Donington Park and the future of the British Grand prix is now secure," said Ecclestone.

"We wanted a world class venue for Formula One in Britain, something that the teams and British F1 fans could be proud of.

"The major development plans for Donington will give us exactly that. A venue that will put British motor sport back on the map.

"I am sorry that we could not have helped Silverstone to raise the money to carry out the circuit improvements and run Formula One.

"I believe that the government should have supported them which would have cost probably less than .002% of the government's commitment for the Olympic Games."

Read more!

British Grand Prix: First Practice

At the end of a dry first practice session it was first blood to Ferrari and to championship leader Felipe Massa. He narrowly edged the McLaren duo of Hamilton and Kovalainen off the top spot, but his morning ended disastrously as his Ferrari ended up buried backwards in the safety barriers at Stowe corner, with half of its rear end missing. Certainly a dramatic start to proceedings at Silverstone!

The top three in the session, Massa, Kovalainen and Hamilton, were separated by less than five hundredths of a second, showing just how closely competitive the top two teams are at the moment. Kimi Raikkonen was a further three tenths back, and Robert Kubica another four behind him. Fernando Alonso again showed that the Renault has developed some real pace by finishing sixth in the session despite only completing seven laps. He was followed by Sebastien Vettel, who yet again showed that he is a real star in the making by comfortably beating all three of the other Red Bull stable cars.

There was a fair bit of on and off track action to keep the spectators entertained. Adrian Sutil tested out the strength of the Force India suspension by launching his car across the bumpy grass at Becketts. Thankfully the wishbones were up to the task and he was able to continue. David Coulthard had a hairy moment on the exit of Luffield whilst trying to get the power down on the grass, and Lewis Hamilton had plenty of his usual crowd pleasing opposite lock antics. Jarno Trulli had a spectacular 360 spin in the Brooklands Complex, but kept the Toyota on the black stuff.

However, the big moment of the session came with half an hour remaining. On the flat out run down the Hangar Straight towards Stowe Fernando Alonso's Renault engine detonated spectacularly, forcing him to pull off and retire from the session. As all eyes were on a furious Alonso and his stricken Renault car, Felipe Massa came storming down the straight. There must have been plenty of Alonso's oil on the track, as the moment Massa touched the brakes the car swapped ends violently. He was a passenger as the car was sent hurtling towards the barriers at about 150mph. He eventually hit the barriers hard in virtually the exact same place Michael Schumacher binned his Ferrari here in 1999, breaking his leg in two places. Fortunately Massa sustained no injuries to speak of as the car impacted rear end first. The same could not be said for his car however, as the right rear side of the car suffered massive damage. It will be interesting to see whether Massa will need and kind of gearbox or engine change after this, which could potentially ruin his race. It will also be interesting to hear what Massa has to say about the Silverstone marshalls, as there appeared to be no yellow and red flags being flown to warn him of the possible danger...

Practice One Times

01. Massa Ferrari 1:19.575
02. Kovalainen McLaren 1:19.587 + 0.012
03. Hamilton McLaren 1:19.623 + 0.048
04. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:19.948 + 0.373
05. Kubica BMW 1:20.367 + 0.792
06. Alonso Renault 1:20.436 + 0.861
07. Vettel Toro Rosso 1:20.588 + 1.013
08. Piquet Renault 1:20.653 + 1.078
09. Coulthard Red Bull 1:20.698 + 1.123
10. Rosberg Williams 1:20.744 + 1.169
11. Webber Red Bull 1:20.892 + 1.317
12. Glock Toyota 1:21.102 + 1.527
13. Heidfeld BMW 1:21.107 + 1.532
14. Bourdais Toro Rosso 1:21.166 + 1.591
15. Trulli Toyota 1:21.265 + 1.690
16. Nakajima Williams 1:21.282 + 1.707
17. Button Honda 1:21.901 + 2.326
18. Sutil Force India 1:22.169 + 2.594
19. Fisichella Force India 1:22.219 + 2.644
20. Barrichello Honda 1:24.123 + 4.548 Read more!

British Grand Prix: Preview

With McLaren-Mercedes licking their wounds after two mallings in two consecutive races, first at the hands of BMW and then by Ferrari, they will be seeing their 'home' Grand Prix as the perfect opportunity to fight back. Young Brit Lewis Hamilton has lost vital ground in the driver's championship, and the McLaren team has fallen massively off the pace in the constructor's standings. They need to win, and they need to win big in front of their home fans if they are to get their title aspirations back on track.

Ferrari meanwhile have cruised to the top of both standings after their near faultless 1-2 finish in the French Grand Prix last time out. Massa will be strong favourite to emerge from Silverstone with his championship lead intact, and it would take a near miracle for BMW to overhaul Ferrari's advantage in the constructor's championship. Kimi Raikkonen will take an engine swap after his exhaust failure in the closing stages of the French GP, but will avoid a 10 place penalty after the added clemency this year's rules provide with regards to engine changes. Every body gets one free swap per season, so Kimi will not risk taking any chances with the engine that took such a pounding in Magny-Cours.

Much of the media spotlight inevitably has fallen upon Lewis Hamilton after two fairly disastrous races in a row, but even more so here as this is his home Grand Prix. With David Coulthard in a midfield Red Bull and Jenson Button in a catatonicly slow Honda, all British hopes lie with the McLaren driver with the possibility of being the first Englishman to win here since Johnny Herbert back in 1995. He showed very well in testing here last week, just to raise hopes that little bit further. There's no denying he has the talent to win here, and he may well have the car to win. A nation expects. No pressure then kiddo!

Of course, McLaren aren't the only British based team on the grid. Williams, Red Bull, Renault, Honda and Force India all run their F1 operations out of the UK. Indeed, Force India's factory is a mere stone's throw away from the Silverstone pit lane. With most of the staff of these teams present at the circuit on race day to cheer their drivers on, and combined with the rich history of the event, it is one of the races that the teams would dearly love to win.

Few of these teams have a chance unfortunately. However, the real fairy tale ending on Sunday would be for Red Bull's David Coulthard to win his third British Grand Prix. On Thursday he announced that he would be retiring at the end of this season. You couldn't imagine a better way for him to bow out of the sport than by winning his last ever home Grand Prix.

While the chances of that are clearly rather slim, one factor that could make it a slight possibility is the prospect of rain. The British "summertime" is in full swing in early July so, naturally, cool temperatures and intermittent heavy rain have been predicted all weekend long. It should be noted that rain was predicted for the past two races, and it never really came. But if it's going to happen anywhere it's most likely to be in the changeable climes of Great Britain! It could really mix things up come race day, and in qualifying too, so the potential for a shock result or two is definitely there.

So, will this be the start of a great McLaren fightback? Or will this be the weekend that Ferrari really started to engrave their name into both trophies again? Read more!

French Grand Prix Race Report: Ferrari to the fore on their favourite track

Felipe Massa retook the lead in the F1 World Driver's Championship with a comfortable victory for Ferrari in today's French Grand Prix. He was able to lead home his teammate Raikkonen for a dominant 1-2 Ferrari whitewash, while one of their biggest rivals suffered a nightmare day ending up in a lowly 10th place.

From the start it was formation flying for the Ferraris as Raikkonen led Massa through turn 1, and they were able to set about building a healthy lead at the front. Alonso in third place had a poor getaway and was immediately at the mercy of Trulli and Kubica. Both drivers got through, but Kubica got ambitious down the outside of the Adelaide hairpin and Alonso was able to recover one of the positions he had lost.

Many eyes were on Hamilton and Kovalainen, both well down the field after receiving penalties, to see what kind of start they would make. In truth, neither driver got off to a great start. Hamilton got stuck behind Heidfeld on the grid, and Kovalainen got held up with the Red Bull of David Coulthard plummeting down the field after a poor start. The biggest drama of the opening laps was yet to come however, and it involved another controversial incident for Lewis Hamilton.

He knew he had to get past as many cars as he could as fast as he could, and the next man in his sights was Sebastien Vettel. He got alongside him on the run down to the Nurburgring chicane and tried an ambitious move down the outside. He got through, but couldn't avoid running wide and cutting across the second half of the chicane. It was a very marginal call, but Hamilton decided NOT to give the position back to Vettel. It looked as though he had gotten away with it, but after what seemed like an age the announcement came that the race stewards were investigating the incident. After a few minutes the inevitable drive-through penalty came, effectively ruining his chances of a decent finish.

By the time the penalty was announced Hamilton had passed his team mate and was bottled up behind the Renault of Nelson Piquet. Unusually, the McLaren didn't really have the pace to get past the Renault. Even when Lewis got into the slipstream of Piquet he didn't have anywhere near the straight line speed to make a pass into the hairpin. Even without the drive through penalty the McLaren didn't really look quick enough to have made it through the field to get a podium finish.

Meanwhile, at the front of the grid it was as easy as can be for the Ferraris. Raikkonen was beginning to build a gap to Massa, and Massa was leaving Trulli for dead in third. It didn't look as though anyone could stop Raikkonen from winning, and from it being a comfortable Ferrari 1-2 finish.

Trulli was holding firm in third place with Alonso and Kubica in close company. As was suspected, Alonso was running very light in qualifying and was the first man to pit. He came out right in front of his old adversary Lewis Hamilton, and it wasn't long until they were swapping paint again! Neither car was damaged as Hamilton squeezed past the fat-with-fuel Renault, but it was more high risk,scrappy driving from Hamilton.

Alonso's early stop meant that Kubica was able to emerge from his stop ahead of him, and was now hot on the heels of Trulli in third. Trulli was putting in an excellent performance, and although he wasn't able to keep on the pace of the Ferraris he was managing to hold Kubica and Alonso at arms length. It looked as though the battle for the final podium place was going to be the most interesting on track squabble for the rest of the day. Kubica and Alonso had always been in contention, and now Kovalainen had played his way firmly into the picture after being fuelled very heavy from the start.

However, the action at the front wasn't over by a long shot. Although we didn't see much of it on the TV screens, we could see from the timing screens that Raikkonen was all of a sudden losing about a second and a half per lap. Massa was closing on him at a rate of knots, and it seemed like Kimi definitely had a problem. Eventually the cameras picked up Raikkonen and we could see his right hand exhaust exit flapping in the air stream. It wasn't long before Massa was right on his tail, and the only sensible option was for Kimi to let his team mate through. In doing so he was effectively handing the the world title lead to Massa, and losing even further ground in his title defence.

Eventually Raikkonen's times stabilised and he was able to make second place comfortably his own. Not great news for Raikkonen exactly, but we saw Michael Schumacher have to retire from a race with a broken exhaust in 2000, so it could potentially have been much worse for him.

Behind him the heat was on in the battle for third. Kovalainen had closed to within about a second of Trulli with 10 laps to go, and was pushing hard just as drops of rain began to fall. The rain turned out not to be too severe and was only enough to cause a few slippery moments here and there. Kubica was holding station in fifth place, waiting to pounce on any kind of incident between the McLaren and Toyota and a the potential for a collision was certainly there as Kovalainen was pushing Trulli extremely hard. A few years ago here Rubens Barrichello stole a podium finish from Trulli in the dying moments, and Kovalainen was hoping for a similar moment of weakness from the Italian.

Behind the battle for third there was a final bit of drama for Fernando Alonso. After all the promise from qualifying yesterday it had all gone wrong for the Spaniard. On badly worn soft tyres he was in a battle with Mark Webber, and he ran badly wide in the hairpin. However, not only did Webber gain a place but his young team mate Piquet also squeezed through, resulting in the first really impressive performance from Piquet in his F1 career.

In the final two laps Kovalainen knew he had to make a brave move if he was to snatch the podium away from the impressive Trulli. He got a good run out of '180' and pulled alongside the Toyota on the run up to the second high speed chicane. It was always going to be in incredibly ballsy move to pull off, and in the end it was a move too far the Finn. After some contact at 160+ mph Kovalainen had to take to the escape road and settle for fourth place and some decent championship points for the first time in a while.

Out front Massa cruised serenely to his third victory of the year, and put himself into pole position for the long title run in. Raikkonen scored points for the first time in a few races, but his race will still be tinged with a bit of disappointment. Jarno Trulli was undoubtedly the driver of the day though. Not only was he quick throughout the day he also had to withstand severe pressure from a number of different drivers throughout the day. It was a real highlight in his career, and a fitting tribute to the founder of Toyota Motorsport Ove Andersen who tragically lost his life in a rallying incident in the past week.

Going into the British Grand Prix Massa leads the title but it is certainly close. The top four drivers (Massa, Kubica, Kimi and Hamilton) are separated by just ten points, so it's still anyone's game from now until the end of the season... Read more!

French Grand Prix Qualifying: Ferrari lock out the front row in France

Kimi Raikkonen led home Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa to score a fairly comfortable front row lock out for tomorrow's French Grand Prix. With Hamilton receiving a penalty and BMW looking strangely out of sorts it was always looking likely to happen. The only man you would have thought was capable to stop him was Heikki Kovalainen, but he wasn't able to step up to the plate and spoil Ferrari's party, much to the disappointment of McLaren. In fact it was Fernando Alonso who got closest to stealing the headlines from the Scuderia, putting in a great performance in front of the Renault fans.

After stunning the F1 world with a 1-2 finish in Canada last time out, perhaps the biggest talking point of the days events will be the poor showing of the BMW team. They struggled from the beginning of the very first session with understeer problems on corner entry and oversteer on exit. On a short track like Magny-Cours where the cars are very closely matched in terms of time throughout the field, those tenths of a second that slip through your fingers when struggling to get a car locked on to an apex are crucial. Heidfeld struggled to make it through even the first session, and then ended up 12th in the second. Kubica was lucky to make it through to the final ten, although he did recover to finish 7th (effectively 6th after Hamilton's penalty).

BMW's disappointment was good news for the likes of Renault, Toyota and Red Bull. Fernando Alonso finished fourth (net third) to delight the French fans. Perhaps Renault have fuelled him light and put him on a three stopper to snatch a few headlines, but it's still a decent performance from Alonso who is driving on top form here this weekend. Toyota really pulled it out of the bag today with a very strong performance from Trulli. It's always hard to work out what's going on with Toyota as they are the masters of inconsistency; one race they're average, one race they're poor, then the next race they're up on the second row!

Another team that would have expected to profit from BMW's woes is Williams, but they really disappointed today. After all the early season optimism and Rosberg's podium at Australia things really seem to be fizzling out for them, with Rosberg and Nakajima in 15th and 16th respectively. Still, at least they aren't Honda! They are really struggling badly at the moment. Perhaps the worst part of all is that neither driver is complaining of any problems with the cars or any handling difficulties. Their car drives well, but they're just plain slow.

Honda and indeed Williams look to have been overtaken by the Toro Rosso team, who have really got their new car firing well. It's a mark of how far they've come when they are disappointed at the fact that they didn't get Vettel into the final session. They'll just have to settle for 13th and 14th, which is still a very respectable finish for a team of their size and resources.

With Lewis Hamilton knowing that wherever he finished he would drop 10 places the final session was as much about strategy for McLaren as it was about outright pace. It seems likely that Hamilton will run a 3 stop strategy and try to stay lighter than his rivals throughout the race. Hamilton will have wanted to finish first on the timesheets, with Kovalainen also looking strong in order to try and disrupt the Ferrari's plans. As it was, Hamilton finished a decent but slightly disappointing 3rd (net 13th) and Kovalainen a very disappointing 6th. There is very little Heikki can do to influence the race from the third row, barring some kind of miracle first lap. He'll have a tough enough job just getting past the likes of Alonso who is clearly running a little light.

So after a pretty faultless performance from Massa and Raikkonen it is Ferrari's race to lose. Unless they manage to take each other out at the first hairpin there should be little to stop them scoring a 1-2 finish. The only thing that could really throw a spanner in the works from them is the potential of thunderstorms. Rain always makes things unpredictable in racing, and there is a strong possibility of safety cars in those kinds of conditions, which could play into the hands of the likes of the McLarens. Either way though, you'd be a fool to bet against a red car taking the chequered flag tomorrow. Read more!

French Grand Prix: Free Practice 2

Fernando Alonso sprung something of a surprise in Friday's second free practice session for the French Grand Prix by edging out the Ferraris to take top spot. It was more of an eventful session this time out, with several drivers taking high speed trips through the kitty-litter. Thankfully nobody hit anything solid at the end of it, but it was evidence that the drivers are really pushing to find the absolute limits of grip out there.

Again the session was run under blue skies and glorious sunshine with no sign of the thunderstorms that had threatened to cast a shadow over proceedings. Thankfully there was far more running in the early part of the session than in first practice.

As previously mentioned, there were several drivers pushing beyond the limits of gri[ in this session. The outside of turn 7 was proving particularly popular, although these days it's all astroturf and tarmac in the run off area so there is little chance of a major incident there. Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to sample the gravel on the outside of the high speed Estoril corner, and he wasn't to be the last. Aside from a chipped front wing and a bruised ego there was no major repercussions for Hamilton.

Fisichella and Piquet both managed to go too hot into the second to last corner and ended up in the gravel, but they also managed to avoid hitting anything. The man who came closest to a serious incident was Felipe Massa in the dying moments of the session. He ran wide on the exit of Estoril and kept his foot in as he bounced across the gravel. He came within about a foot of clipping the tyre barrier at very high speed.

Massa couldn't quite repeat his excellent showing from earlier in the day and ended the session in second place behind Alonso. Kimi Raikkonen was in close attendance in third place with Hamilton in fourth. Perhaps an even bigger surprise than Alonso in first place was Sebastien Vettel in fifth. He beat the likes of Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen on pace in yet another superb showing for the young German.

It was a good day in general for Toro Rosso with Bourdais putting in a good showing in 13th place too. They look as though they are really getting their act together and could well start pressing their big brothers Red Bull in terms of pace. They certainly seem to have left behind the likes of Honda, who are again struggling badly. After what seemed like a mini recovery after their appalling pre-season they seem to have gone backwards and are now battling with the Force Indias at the very bottom of the time sheets!

But the headlines belong to Fernando Alonso who looks to have found some real pace here. It will make it all the more galling for him that he had that problem right at the end of first practice, which looks like it will cost him places on the grid. He looks as racey as ever though, and was certainly the most spectacular driver through the tricky final chicane. Several times he was seen airborne across the bumpy kerbs, and then using armfuls of opposite lock to keep the Renault out of the barriers. Normally that sort of driving doesn't pay dividends in terms of lap times, but Alonso seems to have found a way to make it work for him!

Free Practice Two Times

01 F. Alonso Renault 1:15.778 37 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.854 24 laps
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:15.999 42 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:16.232 28 laps
05 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.298 42 laps
06 R. Kubica BMW 1:16.317 35 laps
07 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:16.340 36 laps
08 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.458 43 laps
09 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:16.543 39 laps
10 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:16.572 36 laps
11 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.682 42 laps
12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:16.743 43 laps
13 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.758 42 laps
14 K. Nakajima Williams 1:17.002 32 laps
15 T. Glock Toyota 1:17.092 39 laps
16 M. Webber Red Bull 1:17.106 38 laps
17 J. Button Honda 1:17.244 37 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:17.394 42 laps
19 R. Barrichello Honda 1:17.591 27 laps
20 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:17.868 33 laps
Read more!