Raikkonen quickest in practice 2 - Europe

The winner of the last two Grands Prix beat morning pace-setter Lewis Hamilton by 0.139 seconds, with Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso taking third and fourth.

The drivers initially took to the track on intermediates in the wake of the downpour that had affected the GP2 practice session.

But Jenson Button was the only driver to actually complete a flying lap on the intermediate Bridgestones, as Hamilton came out on dry rubber and immediately beat the Honda's time by a full 15 seconds.

Alonso, Massa and Raikkonen then all took turns to go fastest before Hamilton reclaimed the position as the hour mark approached.

Then with five minutes remaining, Raikkonen set the 1:33.339 lap that would stand as the fastest of the afternoon.

Hamilton tried to respond, but had a spin at the Michelin Kurve. He rejoined without drama, only to go off the road and across the grass at the Ford Kurve on his next lap, leaving him to settle for second.

The session saw extremely close times throughout the order, with the four title contenders covered by just 0.298 seconds, and the first 15 cars lapping within 1.092 seconds of Raikkonen's pace.

Ralf Schumacher took fifth for Toyota, less than a tenth behind Alonso, and a similarly small margin ahead of teammate Jarno Trulli.

Williams' Nico Rosberg and Honda's Button took seventh and eighth, with the two BMWs unable to repeat their morning form and ending the session in the final top ten positions.

Despite the treacherous conditions, there were relatively few incidents.

Massa ran wide on the exit of the stadium on his penultimate lap and bounced over the grass without damage.

Vitantonio Liuzzi emulated Hamilton's error at the Ford Kurve, but went significantly further off the road before regaining the asphalt.

Newcomer Markus Winkelhock ended the session in the gravel, after spinning at the Bit Kurve with 20 minutes remaining. He ended the session slowest of all, 0.8 seconds behind his Spyker teammate Adrian Sutil.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time               Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:33.339            28
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:33.478  + 0.139   28
 3.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:33.590  + 0.251   27
 4.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:33.637  + 0.298   30
 5.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:33.668  + 0.329   18
 6.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:33.746  + 0.407   22
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:33.845  + 0.506   24
 8.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:33.880  + 0.541   36
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:34.146  + 0.807   22
10.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:34.221  + 0.882   19
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:34.235  + 0.896   29
12.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:34.264  + 0.925   21
13.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:34.357  + 1.018   26
14.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:34.411  + 1.072   26
15.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:34.431  + 1.092   28
16.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:34.446  + 1.107   25
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:34.504  + 1.165   19
18.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:34.554  + 1.215   26
19.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:35.320  + 1.981   26
20.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:35.653  + 2.314   24
21.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:36.527  + 3.188   25
22.  Winkelhock    Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:37.319  + 3.980   19