Vettel stays on top in practice 2 - Italy

He delivered a fast lap late in the session to eclipse the two Ferraris driven by Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa and prove that his arrival in Formula One as the youngest man to take part in a weekend's action is the signal of a major talent.

Schumacher and Massa were second and third fastest ahead of Austrian Alexander Wurz in a Williams, Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa in a McLaren Mercedes-Benz and Finn Kimi Raikkonen in another McLaren.

After a warm morning of sunshine, the air temperature had risen to 32 degrees and the track temperature was 40 when the second session began in the afternoon. Again, as in the morning, the first incident of note was the sight of a Honda, driven again by Anthony Davidson, pulling up and stopping amid flames and smoke.

The young Briton seemed to be pushing his car's power units beyond their endurance and the spectacle was loud and colourful.

Davidson's second enforced stoppage of the day was followed by Japanese Sakon Yamamoto in his Super Aguri Honda missing the apex the first chicane and then doing it again, his two errors punctuated by the sight of Alexander Wurz in his Williams spinning at the Variante Della Roggia.

Yamamoto, Austrian Christian Klien in his Red Bull and then German Nico Rosberg, in a Williams, all flew straight through the first chicane before American Scott Speed went off track and then continued at the opening part of Lesmo.

The arrival of the two Ferraris on track sent a flutter through the crowd, which remained relatively sparse with many empty seats clearly visible.

Immediately, as soon as they clocked their times, Schumacher and Massa took over at the top of the timesheets, the German clocking a best time of 1:23.128 to outpace his Brazilian partner by just four-hundredths of a second.

By the three-quarter mark in the session, they remained unchallenged, with Wurz in his Williams third fastest ahead of Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa in his McLaren Mercedes Benz. German Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber was fifth ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the second McLaren.

Then, just when it seemed that the scarlet-dressed tifosi could begin to celebrate, along came 19-year-old Vettel in his BMW to wreck the Ferrari fans' hopes, the young German topping the times ahead of both Schumacher and Massa.

Vettel had topped the times earlier ahead of de la Rosa, but this lap in 1:22.631 blitzed the field and ensured that he remained on top.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time             Laps
 1.  Vettel        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:22.631          29
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:23.138 + 0.507  11
 3.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:23.182 + 0.551  12
 4.  Wurz          Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:23.414 + 0.783  26
 5.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:23.970 + 1.339  12
 6.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:24.034 + 1.403  11
 7.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:24.330 + 1.699  9
 8.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:24.577 + 1.946  15
 9.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:24.813 + 2.182  5
10.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:24.943 + 2.312  24
11.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:24.985 + 2.354  11
12.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:25.027 + 2.396  12
13.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:25.040 + 2.409  9
14.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:25.108 + 2.477  11
15.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:25.160 + 2.529  14
16.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:25.277 + 2.646  12
17.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:25.316 + 2.685  22
18.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:25.318 + 2.687  11
19.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:25.356 + 2.725  8
20.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:25.500 + 2.869  11
21.  Mondini       MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:25.586 + 2.955  29
22.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:25.707 + 3.076  19
23.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:25.755 + 3.124  21
24.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:25.878 + 3.247  32
25.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:26.058 + 3.427  31
26.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:26.118 + 3.487  21
27.  Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:26.705 + 4.074  14
28.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)
29.  Button        Honda               (M)

All Timing Unofficial