Heikki Kovalainen led the way in the second official practice session ahead of tomorrow’s British Grand Prix.
The session had a somewhat muted atmosphere after an announcement by the FIA yesterday confirmed Silverstone racetrack would lose the staging rights to the British Grand Prix after next year’s race, with Donington Park taking its place from 2010.
Kovalainen was the only driver to duck under the one minute, 20 second barrier yesterday afternoon with a lap of 1min 19.989secs, which was four tenths slower than the overall fastest time set by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa yesterday morning as the teams concentrated on longer runs.
Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber celebrated his new one-year contract extension with second place, half a second slower than the Finn, while Kovalainen’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton popped up into third place with a late 1:20.543 effort.
Reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen was subdued in the second Ferrari, comfortably off the pace of both McLarens and his team-mate on both light and heavy fuel runs.
The Finn’s best time in the second session was 1:21.275, three tenths slower than Massa, who completed significantly fewer laps than his team-mate following a huge accident yesterday morning.
The Ferrari driver lost control of his car at the end of the 180mph Hangar Straight, spinning on oil dropped when the engine failed in Fernando Alonso’s Renault just minutes earlier.
The Ferrari scrubbed off little speed as it pirouetted off the track and slammed backwards into a tyre barrier, destroying the rear end of the car. Race control immediately threw the red flag to suspend the session with 33 minutes remaining.
Massa extracted himself from the car unaided, but there was an 18-minute delay while the Brazilian’s crumpled Ferrari was prised away from the Stowe Corner barrier and track marshals cleared away the oil deposited by Alonso’s stricken Renault.
Despite playing no further part in the 90-minute session, Massa’s time of 1:19.575, set just before his accident, was good enough to top the timesheets – and ensure him the fastest overall time.
While yesterday afternoon’s session was not interrupted by a red flag, there were more than enough off-track moments to keep the spectators on their toes.
Both Hamilton and Massa had lurid moments at Club, while Toyota’s Jarno Trulli went off at Stowe Corner, a rear wing failure sending the Italian straight to the scene of Massa’s earlier accident, albeit this time at slower speed.
Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima also had a brush with the tyre wall after his Williams got away from him on the exit of Farm, sending him sideways to the inside of the track and removing his front wing.
Technorati Tags: Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, Mark Webber, BMW Sauber, Kimi Raikkonen, Scuderia Ferrari, Hamilton, Silverstone, Donington Park
Tags: BMW Sauber, Donington Park, Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen, Kimi Raikkonen, Mark Webber, Mclaren, Scuderia Ferrari, Silverstone
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