Friday Practice: Alonso Pips Massa & Hamilton Struggles With Pace in Session Two

Fernando Alonso showed the strength of the Renault in session two of Friday practice as he pipped Massa in a late show. Meanwhile, championship leader, Lewis Hamilton could only manage ninth after such a strong showing in session one.

Hamilton's session was full of locked wheels and driver errors—errors that he can't afford to make in tomorrow's Qualifying session and Sunday's race.

One excuse for Hamilton's pace is engine preservation.  We have to remember that Hamilton is taking a race-worn V8 whilst championship rival, Felipe Massa, and in-form Renault Driver, Fernando Alonso, have fresh horses underneath them.

Jarno Trulli shocked us today as he managed to be the first to set a seriously competitive lap of 1m12.999s, although this was overturned within minutes of Massa getting on the track, no-one other than Alonso and the Ferrari driver could match it.

Defending World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen, couldn't match the pace of the top three and finished the session on a 1m12.600s and sits back in third, knowing fully well that his real task will start tomorrow and will see him assist Massa in any way possible during Sunday's race.

Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Nelson Piquet Jr., and Nico Rosbeg were all quicker than Lewis Hamilton in session two, finishing from fifth to eighth respectively.

The real shock, and disappointment, of the day was Heikki Kovalainen.  The McLaren driver was nine tenths of a second slower than Alonso and finished the session on a 1m13.213s, all the way back in fifteenth position.  McLaren and Lewis Hamilton will be hoping that Kovy can pull something special out tomorrow.

Retiring driver, David Coulthard, was given some hope for his final ever Grand-Prix weekend as a driver when he managed to score eleventh position in his Red Bull going across the line on a 1m12.896s, just seven hundredths of a second slower than the MP4-23 of Lewis Hamilton.

The greasy surface, caused by earlier rain showers, caught out several drivers, including Mark Webber who managed to control a high-speed spin at the end of the long back straight without any damage to his Red Bull, Jarno Trulli at turn 12 and Sebastien Bourdais who twice went off the road whilst braking for the Senna S.

In a damp and cold practice session, one that McLaren will want to forget if possible, the Ferrari had a clear advantage in pace—whether this was down to driver errors on Hamilton's part or down to performance and traction of the F2008 we won't know.

What we do know is, although Hamilton goes into this weekend with a seven point cushion over Massa, he still has some serious work to do if he is to go on to win the championship title on Sunday afternoon.

Final Standings After Session Two of Friday Free Practice are:

1.  ALONSO         Renault         1m12.296s
2.  MASSA          Ferrari           1m12.353s
3.  TRULLI          Toyota          1m12.435s
4.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari          1m12.600s
5.  WEBBER         Red Bull         1m12.650s
6.  VETTEL         Toro Rosso     1m12.687s
7.  PIQUET          Renault         1m12.703s
8.  ROSBERG        Williams        1m12.761s
9.  HAMILTON      McLaren       1m12.827s
10. NAKAJIMA      Williams        1m12.886s
11. COULTHARD    Red Bull       1m12.896s
12. KUBICA          BMW           1m12.971s
13. HEIDFELD       BMW           1m13.038s
14. GLOCK           Toyota        1m13.041s
15. KOVALAINEN   McLaren      1m13.213s
16. BARRICHELLO  Honda         1m13.221s
17. BOURDAIS      Toro Rosso   1m13.273s
18. BUTTON         Honda         1m13.341s
19. SUTIL         Force India   1m13.428s
20. FISICHELLA    Force India   1m13.691s

With thanks to ITV for session times.

Keep an eye out for my Qualifying Report and Race Report on Saturday and Sunday respectively.