UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > McLaren hit back in second session

Hamilton leads the charge

McLaren-Mercedes answered the call that was sent out after the first practice session as they set about attaining the drivers’ title that has eluded them for many years.

Lewis Hamilton was the first McLaren man home, stopping the time clock with an impressive 1:12.767, just one tenth ahead of Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were not to be out done as they exchanged sector times early to finish third and fourth respectively.

The Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella was a surprise fifth place after being mid pack most of the session, as he managed to hold out Robert Kubica in the first of the BMW's. Kubica had an extraordinary session as he lead the time sheets right till the last ten minutes.

The Williams pairing of Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima were the next two to cross the line, only fractions down on Kubica. Nakajima was continuously impressive on his debut and has shown signs to Sir Frank Williams that he could possibly move into that seat next year.

David Coulthard had another strong practice session as he finish ninth and less than a second down on Hamilton in his Red Bull, with Nick Heidfeld in the final BMW following closely. Heidfeld was also topping the sheets throughout the session.

Ralf Schumacher in the Toyota lead home Heikki Kovalainen's Renault and the Honda piloted by Rubens Barrichello in 11th, 12th and 13th respectively as they all finish within .06 seconds of each other. Jenson Button in the second Honda was not too far back in 14th, with Tonio Liuzzi trailing just behind in the first of the Toro Rosso's.

Italian Jarno Trulli was disappointing in his efforts early but hit back strong with some good runs, but will be disappointed overall at his position of 16th, comfortably ahead of German rising star Sebastian Vettel in the second Toro Rosso. Takuma Sato sat out the start of the session but managed to get plenty of track time as he set the 18th fastest lap, fractions ahead of team mate Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri.

Mark Webber lead the time sheets by an amazing two seconds early on, but was unable to find any time as the track dried up and ended up in 20th, over .8 behind team mate Coulthard. The Spyker's of Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto tried hard but never had anything to show as they finished 21st and 22nd respectively.

The topsy turvy nature of this practice session sets up an interesting qualifying tomorrow, which you can catch on UpdateF1.

Written: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:48:41