Free practice 2: McLaren takes over

But unlike recent races in which the team's opening day speed has flattered to deceive come qualifying, a renewed sense of purpose permeated the squad on its home territory, with fast man Mika Hakkinen and his team mate David Coulthard looking like this time they mean business.

Coulthard was fastest for the bulk of the session, but with 14 minutes to run, Hakkinen beat the Scot's time by just 0.067s, stopping the clocks at 1m22.827s. For a man widely-rumoured to be hanging up his helmet at the end of the season, and another living under the strain of a faltering world title attack, the duo didn't seem particularly desperate or despondent...

Ferrari swapped their morning one-two for an afternoon three-four, with Rubens Barrichello edging out world championship leader Michael Schumacher. After a couple of lacklustre performances, the Brazilian too appears to be approaching Silverstone with a tougher attitude. But just to maintain perspective, it should be noted that Schumacher didn't actually attempt a flying lap in the afternoon hour.

Behind the elite quartet, the Silverstone-based Jordan-Honda team showed good form on the track it calls home, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen setting the fifth quickest time and his team mate Jarno Trulli going ninth quickest.

Sauber did its usual superb job, giving Nick Heidfeld a car to take the sixth fastest time and Kimi Raikkonen the machinery to go 10th quickest.

Recent races have seen Formula 1's 'big two' of Ferrari and McLaren become a 'big three' with Williams-BMW's leap to competitiveness, but cold track temperatures meant the Grove-based squad was never a factor. As drivers of Michelin-shod cars point out, the French rubber needs a warm window in which to perform and the Northamptonshire airfield is so far failing to deliver.

Ralf Schumacher was best of the Williams duo, finishing eighth fastest, but 1.395s off the benchmark time, while Juan Pablo Montoya endured a day of over-driving and niggling problems to finish 17th fastest. Indeed, the fastest Michelin runner was the Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa, which banged in a time good enough for seventh with 18 minutes of the session left.

Things may get better for the Michelin runners, but via an alternative route: rain fell in the closing minutes of the session and the forecast says showers are expected on Saturday and Sunday. One thing Michelin hasn't been lacking in so far is a decent rain tyre.

Outside the top 10, BAR finished a distinct second best of the two Honda-powered teams, with Jacques Villeneuve 11th after session two technical glitches and his team mate Olivier Panis 12th.

Eddie Irvine found himself in a position fairly familiar to Jaguar drivers - 13th - with Jenson Button only 19th for Benetton-Renault, but two places ahead of team mate Giancarlo Fisichella.

For the record, Minardi driver Tarso Marques was 22nd and last after a couple of spins. Alex Yoong is waiting in the wings, so they say. Watch this space...?

For combined Friday free practice session results, click here.