Free Practice 2 – Tight duel… but Räikkönen stays in control

Kimi Räikkönen repeated his performance this afternoon during Free Practice 2. The Finn, as he did this morning, is ahead of Fernando Alonso by only 0.006 seconds. Massa is also in the same position as this morning, in 3rd place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who is still learning on this circuit.

Räikkönen therefore has the two best times of the day. The Finn used soft tires in the very last seconds of the session to take the first place from Alonso, who had dominated a good part of it. Felipe Massa made a few small mistakes on the track, including going off into the run-off areas without damage, as well as a spin.

Surprisingly, neither BMW, Williams, nor Renault are found in the following positions, as it is the Red Bull and Toyota that have impressed. Trulli sets the 5th fastest time ahead of Webber and his teammate Ralf Schumacher. Coulthard’s other Red Bull is 8th.

Nico Rosberg takes 9th place while Fisichella completes the top 10. The Renaults experienced some issues, particularly Kovalainen who missed a good part of the session due to a mechanical problem. Similarly, the BMWs struggled, with Heidfeld ending up only 15th, behind his teammate Kubica in 14th position.

The circuit is demanding, the single-seaters have to endure a lot, and it shows in terms of reliability.

The Spykers are showing better form than in the previous rounds. Sutil is 19th and remains more motivated than ever to bring a second point to his team.

On the side of the sky, the day was quite overcast, with the clouds bringing warmth it was hot (45° on the track this afternoon) but we expect more uncertain conditions this weekend with a few drops of rain.

Free Practice 2 Standings