Rosberg's engine given all-clear

Rosberg lost control of his car under braking for Turn Two and hit the barriers backwards.

Williams could not fix the German's car in time for him to make it out for the second session. That means he will need to do more laps than normal in Saturday free practice to make up for the lost work.

Rosberg said: "Today was a disappointing day for me, I guess, with basically no driving at all. After I crashed this morning, the mechanics worked flat out on my car to repair the damage but could not fix it in time for me to go out in the second session.

"It's a pity, but I will compensate with some extra running in tomorrow's practice session."

The only good news for him is that Cosworth have found no damage with his engine.

Chris Jilbert, Cosworth's principal engineer, said: "Nico's engine was checked for damage following his crash during the first session and all appears well."

Rosberg's teammate Mark Webber only completed one long run in the afternoon as most of the work was left to third driver Alex Wurz.

Webber said: "We've got plenty of information to look at from Alex's car, and we will do more running tomorrow morning anyway, despite the potentially cooler track conditions which don't tend to represent what we usually expect in the race."