Raikkonen stays on top in practice 2

The title contenders concentrated on heavier fuel loads for much of the afternoon, and Raikkonen's session-topping time was a full 1.3 seconds slower than he had managed this morning.

His Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa was fifth fastest, while the two McLarens were only 11th and 16th.

The teams' differing strategies meant that the timing screens had an unusual look throughout, with Force India holding first and second positions for the first 40 minutes - Adrian Sutil leading the way initially before being beaten by teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.

David Coulthard (Red Bull) ended their moment of glory by lapping in 1:22.321, 0.062 seconds quicker than Fisichella's benchmark, as the session neared its halfway point.

Ten minutes later, Williams took a one-two, with first Nico Rosberg, then Kazuki Nakajima going fastest of all.

Then with 27 minutes remaining, Fernando Alonso hit the front, to the delight of the Spanish fans in the grandstands.

His 1:22.034 lap was 0.138 seconds clear of Nakajima's previous best, but was beaten within 12 minutes by his own teammate Nelson Piquet, who lapped 0.015 seconds faster. Although Alonso subsequently improved his time, he only closed the gap by 0.002 seconds.

Renault then held the top two places until the final four minutes, when Raikkonen moved ahead with a 1:21.935 lap, 0.084 seconds quicker than Piquet.

McLaren did not feature amongst the lead runners. Hamilton had a spin at Turn 10 on his first run, and ended the day in 11th. He then came to a halt in the pit entry on his final lap of the session.

His teammate Heikki Kovalainen managed just eight laps. A gearbox problem kept the Finn in the McLaren garage for most of the first hour, and when he did take to the track, he only completed a handful of laps before his car slowed and came to a halt on the way out of Turn 6.

Behind Raikkonen, Piquet and Alonso, Nakajima held on to fourth place for Williams, with Massa fifth and 0.2 seconds slower than Raikkonen.

Mark Webber and David Coulthard took sixth and eighth for Red Bull, split by Rosberg, while the two Force Indias were shuffled down the order as others improved, but secured the final top ten positions.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time               Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:21.935            38
 2.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:22.019  + 0.084   38
 3.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:22.032  + 0.097   26
 4.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:22.172  + 0.237   35
 5.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:22.229  + 0.294   32
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:22.238  + 0.303   36
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:22.266  + 0.331   33
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:22.289  + 0.354   30
 9.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.383  + 0.448   38
10.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.548  + 0.613   38
11.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:22.685  + 0.750   33
12.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:22.788  + 0.853   38
13.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:23.130  + 1.195   40
14.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:23.224  + 1.289   34
15.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:23.263  + 1.328   34
16.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:23.264  + 1.329    8
17.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:23.415  + 1.480   31
18.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.661  + 1.726   35
19.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.684  + 1.749   37
20.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:23.883  + 1.948   40
21.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:25.110  + 3.175   30
22.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:25.163  + 3.228   31