Champion Fernando Alonso remained at the top of the timesheets at the end of the second practice session, improving his time to 1:16.555 from a best of 1:17.759 in the morning.
His pace, on super soft tyres was slightly more than half a second faster than Ferrari's Felipe Massa who slipped into second place on 1:17.090.
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), second in the morning, was third in the afternoon just over 0.7 seconds off the pace on 1:17.307 while Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) was fourth on 1:17.515 almost a second behind Alonso, indicating that the two drivers were trying different strategies.
BMW's Nick Heidfeld raked in the highest number of laps, 42, and reclaimed his place as the best of the rest with fifth followed by Nico Rosberg (Williams) who did not test in the morning, Rubens Barrichello (Honda) and Giancarlo Fisicella Renault), but Renault team-mate Heikki Kovalainen ran into the wall at turn eight and languished at the bottom after completing 13 laps, less than half the average. The P2 positions were the following:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.550 2. Massa Ferrari 1:17.090 + 0.540 3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.307 + 0.757 4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:17.515 + 0.965 5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:17.827 + 1.277 6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:17.992 + 1.442 7. Barrichello Honda 1:18.108 + 1.558 8. Fisichella Renault 1:18.130 + 1.580 9. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:18.181 + 1.631 10. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:18.309 + 1.759 11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:18.316 + 1.766 12. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:18.399 + 1.849 13. Button Honda 1:18.474 + 1.924 14. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.493 + 1.943 15. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:18.545 + 1.995 16. Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.602 + 2.052 17. Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:18.871 + 2.321 18. Trulli Toyota 1:18.895 + 2.345 19. R.Schumacher Toyota 1:19.331 + 2.781 20. Albers Spyker-Ferrari 1:19.453 + 2.903 21. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:19.662 + 3.112 22. Kovalainen Renault 1:20.519 + 3.969
His pace, on super soft tyres was slightly more than half a second faster than Ferrari's Felipe Massa who slipped into second place on 1:17.090.
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), second in the morning, was third in the afternoon just over 0.7 seconds off the pace on 1:17.307 while Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) was fourth on 1:17.515 almost a second behind Alonso, indicating that the two drivers were trying different strategies.
BMW's Nick Heidfeld raked in the highest number of laps, 42, and reclaimed his place as the best of the rest with fifth followed by Nico Rosberg (Williams) who did not test in the morning, Rubens Barrichello (Honda) and Giancarlo Fisicella Renault), but Renault team-mate Heikki Kovalainen ran into the wall at turn eight and languished at the bottom after completing 13 laps, less than half the average. The P2 positions were the following:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.550 2. Massa Ferrari 1:17.090 + 0.540 3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.307 + 0.757 4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:17.515 + 0.965 5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:17.827 + 1.277 6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:17.992 + 1.442 7. Barrichello Honda 1:18.108 + 1.558 8. Fisichella Renault 1:18.130 + 1.580 9. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:18.181 + 1.631 10. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:18.309 + 1.759 11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:18.316 + 1.766 12. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:18.399 + 1.849 13. Button Honda 1:18.474 + 1.924 14. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.493 + 1.943 15. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:18.545 + 1.995 16. Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.602 + 2.052 17. Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:18.871 + 2.321 18. Trulli Toyota 1:18.895 + 2.345 19. R.Schumacher Toyota 1:19.331 + 2.781 20. Albers Spyker-Ferrari 1:19.453 + 2.903 21. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:19.662 + 3.112 22. Kovalainen Renault 1:20.519 + 3.969