Massa leads first practice despite crash

Massa was unhurt in the high-speed accident, which left his Ferrari with significant rear-end damage. He lost control on the oil dropped by Fernando Alonso's Renault, which expired on the approach to Stowe with half an hour to go.

Although the former champion stayed to the far left and immediately pulled onto the run-off, his ailing car left a trail of fluid on the racing line going into the corner.

Timo Glock provided an early warning when he ran wide on the oil, and then moments later Massa hit the slippery surface and snapped into a violent spin that took him straight into the barriers.

An 18-minute stoppage followed while the Ferrari was retrieved and the spilt oil covered with cement dust.

With much of the far end of the Hangar Straight covered with the white powder when the sessions finally resumed for the last quarter of an hour, track conditions were not conducive to rapid times.

That meant Massa remained at the head of the order despite his accident. He had hit the front a few minutes before the crash, producing a 1:19.575 lap to beat previous pace-setter Heikki Kovalainen, who had earlier swapped the advantage with his McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.

Both McLarens managed to improve their times slightly late on despite the spillage at Stowe, with Kovalainen and Hamilton ending the session just 0.012 and 0.048 seconds behind Massa respectively.

Kovalainen had to make two late attempts after one potentially quick run was disrupted when he had to back off to avoid Giancarlo Fisichella in the complex, as the Force India rejoined after a quick visit to the Brooklands gravel.

Raikkonen stayed fourth at the end of the morning, while Robert Kubica took fifth for BMW on his second flying lap - his first attempt having been impeded by Massa, much to Kubica's chagrin.

Alonso was classified sixth despite his Renault's apparent engine failure, with his teammate Nelson Piquet taking eighth. The pair were split by Sebastian Vettel, as the young German put in another impressive practice performance for Toro Rosso.

After his retirement announcement yesterday, David Coulthard claimed ninth for Red Bull this morning, while Williams' Nico Rosberg completed the top ten.

While Massa's accident was by far the most dramatic of the morning, it wasn't the only incident. Glock rotated his Toyota in spectacular fashion on the way out of Brooklands early on, while Force India's Adrian Sutil held a wild ride over the grass through the Becketts complex, getting significantly airborne over some of the undulations in the run-off.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:19.575             8
 2.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:19.587  + 0.012   15
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:19.623  + 0.048   13
 4.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:19.948  + 0.373   16
 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:20.367  + 0.792   11
 6.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:20.436  + 0.861    7
 7.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:20.588  + 1.013   18
 8.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:20.653  + 1.078   16
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:20.698  + 1.123   16
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:20.744  + 1.169   27
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:20.892  + 1.317   10
12.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:21.102  + 1.527   22
13.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:21.107  + 1.532   18
14.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.166  + 1.591   17
15.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:21.265  + 1.690   22
16.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:21.282  + 1.707   21
17.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:21.901  + 2.326    7
18.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.169  + 2.594   16
19.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.219  + 2.644   19
20.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:24.123  + 4.548    4