BlogF1

The second practice session from yesterday afternoon saw the tables turn slightly as Fernando Alonso went to the top of the class in the Renault R28. Title contender Felipe Massa had been dominant for most of the 90 minutes, but in the closing stages Alonso managed a lap time 0.05s faster, demoting the Brazilian to second. Once again the circuit was frequented with light rain showers which disrupted play a little, but that was little excuse for Lewis Hamilton who ended the day in the midfield, only going ninth fastest.

The Briton suffered from locking wheels, mainly in the middle sector, and although a change to the softer compound improved this issue, the rain fell at the wrong time and Hamilton couldn’t capitalise on this change. Jarno Trulli on the other hand was on-form, going third fastest in the Toyota and beating Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari by 0.165s. Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel also improved from his morning’s run getting into sixth, although Sebastien Bourdais could only achieve seventeenth in the sister car and going off the circuit on a number of occasions.

Williams look quite good at Interlagos, with Nico Rosberg climbing as high as eighth and team mate Kazuki Nakajima finishing in tenth. Mark Webber hauled his Red Bull into fifth and retiring David Coulthard completed 38 laps to get into eleventh. Honda’s morning pace slipped in the afternoon, with Rubens Barrichello ending his day in sixteenth and Jenson Button only managing a lowly eighteenth.

Brazil 2008: Friday Free Practice Two