Kovalainen quickest in second practice

Red Bull's Mark Webber and David Coulthard were a promising second and fourth, sandwiching Kovalainen's McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton, while the best of the Ferraris was down in eighth position.

Kovalainen held a comfortable margin over the field for most of the session. After Hamilton, Webber and Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) had all taken a turn on top in quick succession, Kovalainen hit the front with a 1:20.353 on soft tyres with 28 minutes gone.

When he rejoined, again on softs, half an hour later, the Finn improved to a 1:19.989, putting him seven tenths of a second clear of the pack.

Webber reduced that margin to half a second with a late improvement that guaranteed him second place, while a slight error in the complex on his last run meant that Hamilton finished the day 0.554 seconds behind his teammate.

Ferrari only managed eighth and 12th places with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. While the latter appeared to be running a more conservative strategy, Massa had to sit out the first half of the session while his car was repaired after his morning crash, and then had two trips over the grass later on.

Toyota had a worrying afternoon. Timo Glock ground to a halt on the exit of Club early on with a gearbox problem, and then Jarno Trulli had a heavy crash at Stowe when his rear wing appeared to detach it at the end of the Hangar straight.

The Toyota spun across the gravel and into the tyre wall, although the impact was not as violent as Massa's morning crash.

The incidents left the two Toyotas at the foot of the times, although Glock did at least manage to rejoin for a handful of laps in the closing minutes.

Ironically the other car in trouble was also Toyota-powered, as Kazuki Nakajima spun his Williams into the barriers with 20 minutes remaining.

The Japanese rookie ran slightly wide on the exit of the Abbey chicane and slewed back across the track into the opposite wall. Nakajima damaged both his front wing and suspension, but was able to nurse the car back to the garage.

His teammate Nico Rosberg managed a strong fifth place, ahead of Vettel, Jenson Button's Honda and Massa, with Nakajima and Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello completing the top ten.

At the end of the session the field had another opportunity to test the new safety car system on their in-laps, as a safety car period was simulated immediately following the chequered flag.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:19.989            35
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:20.520  + 0.531   32
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:20.543  + 0.554   31
 4.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:20.589  + 0.600   36
 5.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:20.748  + 0.759   43
 6.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:20.805  + 0.816   43
 7.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:20.929  + 0.940   39
 8.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:20.943  + 0.954   18
 9.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:20.985  + 0.996   18
10.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:21.002  + 1.013   34
11.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:21.023  + 1.034   33
12.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:21.275  + 1.286   31
13.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:21.453  + 1.464   36
14.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:21.472  + 1.483   18
15.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:21.511  + 1.522   27
16.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:21.520  + 1.531   42
17.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.634  + 1.645   39
18.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:21.642  + 1.653   45
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:21.756  + 1.767   30
20.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:22.196  + 2.207   23