GP – Free Practice 2: McLaren in the spotlight with Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen opened the track for this second free practice session of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and ultimately, he is the one who comes out on top. The McLarens and Red Bulls monopolize the top four positions.

Mark Webber and David Coulthard finished in promising second and fourth places. They sandwiched Kovalainen’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton, while the best Ferrari only managed eighth position.

The Finn had a comfortable margin on track for most of the session. After Hamilton, Webber, and Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) successively took the lead, Kovalainen struck hard by clocking a time of 1:20.353.

Then, he improved half an hour later to 1’19”989.

Webber reduced the margin separating them by half a second with good progress that secured him second place, while a slight mistake by Hamilton resulted in him being relegated to 0.554 seconds behind his teammate.

Ferrari only managed 8th and 12th places with Felipe Massa ahead of Kimi Räikkönen. While the latter seems to be testing a strategy, Massa had to wait the first half of the session to recover his car after his morning accident.

Toyota experienced a worrying afternoon. Timo Glock was at a standstill from the beginning of the afternoon with a gearbox problem, then Jarno Trulli suffered a heavy crash at Stowe when his rear wing detached.

The Toyota plowed into the gravel and the tire wall. The impact was not as violent as Massa’s in the morning.

Ironically, the other single-seater in trouble is powered by Toyota; it’s the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima, which went straight into the barriers with only 20 minutes remaining. He damaged both his front wings and the suspension but was able to bring his car back to the garage.

His teammate Nico Rosberg is 5th ahead of Vettel, Jenson Button for Honda, and Massa. Nakajima and Rubens Barrichello complete the top ten.

Free Practice 2 Results: