With the rain abating ahead of Practice Two, the session got underway on a drying track with Alonso, Mark Webber, Pedro de la Rosa and Adrian Sutil trading early blows.However, with light rain coming down after the first half an hour, it was Webber who emerged as the dominant force before once again the rain let up and the track began to dry.
The dry track saw Alonso come to the fore, as himself and Webber swapped fastest lap time for fastest lap time. And although Alonso eventually triumphed, it was Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel who came the closest to matching the Ferrari driver.
Report: After the morning rain, Friday's second practice got underway on a rather dry track, although there were quite a few wet patches remaining. One driver who wasn't able to make use of the improved conditions was Lewis Hamilton. The McLaren driver was stuck in his garage while his mechanics worked furiously to repair the damage to his car after he crashed it in Practice One.
Kamui Kobayashi clocked the first time of the session, a 1:32.305, however, had to survive several harrowing moments as he almost lost control of his Sauber on the wet patches. Pedro de la Rosa almost immediately beat his team-mate's time with Jaime Alguersuari, Robert Kubica, Sebastien Buemi, Heikki Kovalainen, Sakon Yamamoto and Vitaly Petrov, who ran wide at Turn 8, slotting in behind.
Mark Webber was the first of the top four team drivers to head out, the Aussie taking third place behind de la Rosa and Adrian Sutil. Sutil's run, though, wasn't without problems as he slid off the track at the hairpin before making his way back into the action. However, his off-track excursion didn't appear to bother Sutil at all and he went quickest of all on his next lap. Jenson Button took tenth place on his first timed lap.
De la Rosa overhauled Sutil at the top with a 1:20.164 before once again losing out to the German, who became the first today to break into the 1:19s. Fernando Alonso posted a 1:18.307 to take the P1 slot off Sutil.
Unlike the first session, Friday's second was about putting in the miles and posting the times, and not seeing who could stay on the track for the longest. That was good news for Massa, who improved to second place behind his team-mate while Michael Schumacher, who was P23 in Practice One, slotted into third place. His team-mate Nico Rosberg wasn't having much luck as he clipped the bollards on the side of the track, breaking his front wing.
Half an hour into the session, the rain started coming down resulting in one driver after another going off on their slick tyres: Sutil, Webber, Kovalainen, Kovalainen again, Bruno Senna and Sebastian Vettel, who somehow managed to avoid hitting the tyre barrier at Turn 12.
Schumacher and one of the Virgin's almost had a coming together at the hairpin as Schumacher attempted to take the tighter line to overtake only to hit the wet patches and run wide, forcing the Virgin to duck down the inside.
Webber went quickest with a 1:17.409, lost out to Alonso and then took the position back with a 1:16.585 while Alonso closed the gap and then Massa closed it some more. Alonso finally took the P1 slot off Webber by 0.320s. Michael Schumacher slotted into fourth place behind the battling Ferraris and Webber.
Vettel was the next Red Bull to take the challenge to Alonso, climbing to second place, just 0.029s behind the Spaniard while Massa moved ahead of Webber. Rosberg took fifth place ahead of Schumacher. The latter also joined the list of those running wide, as did Rubens Barrichello.
With ten minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton finally made his first appearance of the afernoon in his repaired MP4-25. The Brit took 18th place on his first attempt and 15th on his second, putting him right behind team-mate Button on the timesheets.
The session ended with Alonso in the P1 slot, ahead of Vettel and Massa.
Times:
01. Alonso Ferrari 1:16.265 35 laps
02. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:16.294 + 0.029 26 laps
03. Massa Ferrari 1:16.438 + 0.173 37 laps
04. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.585 + 0.320 40 laps
05. Rosberg Mercedes 1:16.827 + 0.562 32 laps
06. Schumacher Mercedes 1:16.971 + 0.706 20 laps
07. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.004 + 0.739 10 laps
08. Kubica Renault 1:17.009 + 0.744 37 laps
09. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:17.056 + 0.791 37 laps
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:17.204 + 0.939 44 laps
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.336 + 1.071 44 laps
12. Petrov Renault 1:17.547 + 1.282 35 laps
13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.573 + 1.308 39 laps
14. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:17.701 + 1.436 38 laps
15. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.739 + 1.474 36 laps
16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:17.871 + 1.606 33 laps
17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.147 + 1.882 45 laps
18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:19.327 + 3.062 48 laps
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:19.553 + 3.288 30 laps
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:20.008 + 3.743 34 laps
21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:20.106 + 3.841 31 laps
22. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:20.377 + 4.112 37 laps
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:21.988 + 5.723 37 laps
24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:23.066 + 6.801 37 laps
Source: Planet-F1
