Renault's grip plight

Last week's Monaco Grand Prix race winner Jarno Trulli put his name on the top of the timesheets in the second free practice session at the Nurburgring but was soon knocked down settling instead for the fifth quickest time in the tightly-packed field where the top 10 cars were separated by less than a second.

"A standard opening day: our running was designed to help us choose tyres and begin the car set-up programme," said Trulli. "The car was lacking some grip today in these conditions, and we hope to see the circuit evolve some more by tomorrow. However, we still seem quite competitive."

Team-mate Alonso, who finished the day eighth quickest, said: "As usual, the Friday programme was focused on assessing the tyres available to us. Beyond that, we began fine-tuning some set-ups but the main part of that work will be done tomorrow. The circuit should improve during the weekend, and we hope to pick up grip as it does."