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Ferrari v BMW v McLaren

After the morning’s torrential downpour it was a relief for the drivers – and the fans – to see a drying track as second practice dawned, and while a Ferrari took top spot, it looks very much as though they do not have things their own way on home ground.

Kimi Raikkonen set a fastest lap of 1:23.861 as the track got quicker and drier, and finished the session just over a tenth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren.

The surprise, though, was that this was not the closest challenger, for between the two come Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld – the BMW drivers setting lap times just 16 one-thousandths of a second apart – and it has to be said that the blue and white cars looked composed and effortless, not even attempting to better their time sin the last minutes of the session.

Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen brought the second Ferrari and McLaren home in sixth and seventh places – the fifth place interloper being Nico Rosberg in the Williams – with Kovalainen half a second off the fastest time, while the other top ten slots went to Mark Webber for Red Bull, a quite astonishing Adrian Sutil in the Force India, and on form Sebastian Vettel in the STR.

All outside the top ten were beyond a second away from the front running pace, with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet – who missed half the session after a spin – stuck at the back in the seemingly underpowered Renaults, along with a surprisingly lacklustre pair of Toyotas and the usual brace of Hondas.

Notable was the straight-line speed achieved this session, with Hamilton getting up to a breathtaking 346kph at the fastest part of the track.

A three-way fight is promised, then, with BMW looking quietly confident as things stand.

Written: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:44:38