Alonso Predicting Difficult Weekend

Spain's championship leader Alonso was eighth fastest in the later session for Renault after putting in only two laps in the morning at the Nurburgring, where track temperatures reached more than 50 degrees Celsius.

Alonso said everything went to plan today, but admitted he will face a tough competition tomorrow and on Sunday.

"Everything was OK today - it was really a very normal Friday practice for us," said Alonso. "The car balance is not yet perfect, but I think a lot of that is down to the track conditions, which were quite low grip today. I expect the grip levels will pick up tomorrow, which will help us gain in performance and also improve the balance of the car.

"A lot of different teams seemed to be competitive today, which means I don't think this will be such an easy weekend. But having said that, we are in our normal positions for a Friday, in the top ten, so things are going to plan."

Alonso's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella finished in ninth place after being hampered by the traffic.

"My biggest problem today was yellow flags on my quick laps which stopped me from improving my time - I think I should have been at least half a second quicker without those problems," said Fisichella.

"We still have some work to do on the set-up, as I have too much understeer on the way into the corners, but I think we can make the changes we need overnight.

"In terms of the tyres, we have a clear idea of the direction we want to go in, so that makes it easier to focus our programme tonight. We seem to be in our usual positions for Friday, so I think we can be quick tomorrow in qualifying."