Raikkonen fastest in practice 2 - China

Felipe Massa was third, only 0.023 seconds off the pace, with points leader Lewis Hamilton fourth again.

World champion Alonso had been fastest for most of the afternoon, swiftly overcoming teammate Hamilton's initial 1:37.657 with a lap 0.077 seconds faster.

Both found more time when they rejoined ten minutes later, and again it was Alonso who came through marginally faster, his 1:36.828 lap beating Hamilton by 0.048 seconds.

The McLarens then switched to soft tyres for their next appearance. While Alonso found another 0.2 seconds and lapped in 1:36.613, Hamilton had a spin at Turn 1 and failed to improve.

Massa then came through to split the McLarens, lapping 0.017 seconds slower than Alonso. With the top drivers then focusing on long runs, the leading times were set for the next 40 minutes.

Morning pacesetter Raikkonen had not threatened the top of the timesheets for most of the afternoon, instead languishing on the outskirts of the top six.

But in the final moments the Finn switched to soft tyres and threw in a 1:36.607 to beat Alonso by just 0.006 seconds.

Jarno Trulli was just half a second off the pace for Toyota in fifth place, with his teammate Ralf Schumacher seventh behind Red Bull's Mark Webber.

The Australian's teammate David Coulthard had also appeared in the top five early in the session, and ended the day in eighth.

Nico Rosberg and Giancarlo Fisichella completed the top ten positions.

After his gearbox problem in practice one, Nick Heidfeld's bad luck continued as a hydraulic problem sidelined his BMW just 11 minutes into the session.

Once again the car was recovered to the pits in time for repairs to be carried out, and he rejoined the track later in the afternoon, although he could only manage 15th.

Heikki Kovalainen was similarly fortunate when his Renault struck fuel pressure problems after 42 minutes. The car was recovered to the pits and repaired before resuming running and taking 11th.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time              Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:36.607           31
 2.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:36.613 + 0.006   28
 3.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:36.630 + 0.023   29
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:36.876 + 0.269   33
 5.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:37.151 + 0.544   36
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:37.450 + 0.843   34
 7.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:37.524 + 0.917   32
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:37.617 + 1.010   27
 9.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:37.646 + 1.039   36
10.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:37.970 + 1.363   32
11.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:38.062 + 1.455   21
12.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:38.205 + 1.598   41
13.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:38.304 + 1.697   40
14.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:38.379 + 1.772   39
15.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:38.388 + 1.781   16
16.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:38.531 + 1.924   32
17.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:38.975 + 2.368   38
18.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:39.065 + 2.458   36
19.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:39.224 + 2.617   37
20.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:39.360 + 2.753   37
21.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:39.404 + 2.797   34
22.  Yamamoto      Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:40.051 + 3.444   38

All timing unofficial