Kovalainen P1 but Massa remains on top at Silverstone

British GP - Second practice
04/07/08 16:51

McLaren top the timesheets in the afternoon

Heikki Kovalainen topped the timesheets in much warmer conditions this afternoon at Silverstone but was unable to beat Felipe Massa’s morning time. With the sun shining down on the Northamptonshire circuit, the warmer track temperature resulted in few overall improvements in terms of ultimate pace.

Kovalainen led the way for McLaren Mercedes with a best lap of 1:19.989s, half a second clear of his nearest rival. However, this morning Massa recorded a 1:19.575 while Kovalainen himself was only just a fraction slower in the same session.

It was a pretty fraught day however for the new championship leader following his high speed off in the first free practice session. Ferrari were able to get Massa into the afternoon running with 50 minutes remaining of the 90-minute session remaining. The Brazilian would understeer his way to eighth position on the timing screens in the hastily prepared F2008.

While the times didn't - perhaps - mean a great deal this afternoon, Red Bull Renault will be encouraged to see Mark Webber and David Coulthard second and fourth fastest respectively with fan-favourite Lewis Hamilton looking ragged on his way to the third fastest time.

Nico Rosberg ran well throughout the afternoon, ending his day a respectable fifth fastest as he and the team spent plenty of time evaluating both the option and prime tyre. Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima was ninth fastest but was unable to take part in the final 20 minutes of running after spinning his FW30 exiting Farm and making contact with the barriers on the right hand side of the circuit. Nakajima had been sixth fastest at the time of the error.

Sebastian Vettel remained firmly in the top ten in his Toro Rosso Ferrari, this afternoon setting the sixth fastest time. Team-mate Sebastien Bourdais was eight-tenths of a second slower, but with the field so close in terms of lap times, was just 17th overall.

Honda had a much busier time of it this afternoon with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello putting in plenty of running en route to seventh and tenths positions with Massa and Nakajima in between.

It was a fairly typical low-key Friday for the BMW Sauber team with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld 11th and 13th with Kimi Raikkonen an equally low-key 12th in between.

It would prove to be a tough afternoon for Toyota with Timo Glock losing two-thirds of session after his TF108 lost drive exiting Club. The German would get back out late in the session and set the 14th best time. Jarno Trulli meanwhile suffered a rear wing failure on his Toyota and made contact with the Stowe barriers at almost the same point as Massa this morning. The TF108 sustained heavy right rear damage and the Italian ended the day slowest of all.

The Renault duo of Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet recorded the 15th and 18th best times. Giancarlo Fisichella completed the most laps of the afternoon and was 16th best ahead of Bourdais, Piquet, Adrian Sutil and Trulli.

Earl ALEXANDER
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