Alonso lays down marker

Last updated: 3rd August 2007

Fernando alonso

Alonso: Quickest

Related links

Teams

Also see

Fernando Alonso threw down the gauntlet to team-mate Lewis Hamilton on Friday by registering the fastest lap in opening practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard was comfortably the quickest in the second session after the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica edged the morning times, as the Ferraris slipped back.

Alonso, just two points adrift of his McLaren buddy in the championship, out-shone the Brit who sat third in the list behind surprise package Heikki Kovalainen in a Renault.

With the cars lighter on fuel compared to the morning's 90-minute session, Alonso set a lap of one minute 20.919secs for the 4.384km circuit on the outskirts of Budapest, almost 2.5secs faster than Kubica's best early on.

Hamilton spin

Young Finn Kovalainen finished 0.364secs behind Alonso, with Hamilton a further 0.054secs adrift - the latter ending the session in the gravel.

With five minutes remaining, the 22-year-old lost the back end of his McLaren, spinning and ultimately stalling the car.

At least there was no damage done, unlike his 170mph qualifying smash in the European Grand Prix 13 days ago when he obliterated the front end after ploughing into a tyre barrier.

It meant a crane coming to Hamilton's aid to lift him out of the gravel, just as it did during the race at the Nurburgring when he was able to continue.

On this occasion, though, he was a mere bystander for the closing stages, albeit with no change to the top order.

Behind Hamilton came the Williams of Nico Rosberg and then Nick Heidfeld for BMW Sauber, with the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa adding to the surprises by finishing sixth and seventh.

The second Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella was followed by the Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher sandwiching Kubica, with the top 11 all within a second of one another.

David Coulthard was 14th for Red Bull Racing, with Anthony Davidson 15th in his Super Aguri and Jenson Button - at the scene of his one and only victory a year ago - down in 16th for Honda.

The rear of the field was brought up by Sakon Yamamoto, making his debut for Spyker and driving a Formula One car for the first time since racing for Super Aguri in the Brazilian Grand Prix at the end of last year.

Yamamoto finished over 2.5secs down on team-mate Adrian Sutil, and more than five seconds off Alonso's pace.

Second practice times:

1. F Alonso (Spain) McLaren 1:20.919

2. H Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 1:21.283

3. L Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:21.338

4. N Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:21.485

5. N Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:21.517

6. K Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:21.589

7. F Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:21.620

8. G Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1:21.698

9. J Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:21.857

10. R Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:21.906

11. R Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 1:21.912

12. A Wurz (Austria) Williams - Toyota 1:21.987

13. M Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:22.325

14. D Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault 1:22.483

15. A Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri - Honda 1:22.510

16. J Button (Britain) Honda 1:22.550

17. T Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda 1:22.556

18. R Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1:22.727

19. V Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:23.136

20. S Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:23.148

21. A Sutil (Germany) Spyker - Ferrari 1:23.673

22. S Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker - Ferrari 1:26.307

First practice times:

1 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.390 25 laps

2 F. Massa Ferrari 1:22.519 18 laps

3 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:22.540 21 laps

4 F. Alonso McLaren 1:22.585 18 laps

5 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:22.654 19 laps

6 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.891 24 laps

7 N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.983 19 laps

8 J. Button Honda 1:23.294 20 laps

9 R. Barrichello Honda 1:23.601 20 laps

10 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:23.802 27 laps

11 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:24.102 13 laps

12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:24.318 30 laps

13 A. Wurz Williams 1:24.321 12 laps

14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:24.474 17 laps

15 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:24.733 18 laps

16 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.905 26 laps

17 G. Fisichella Renault 1:24.920 19 laps

18 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.976 20 laps

19 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:25.307 13 laps

20 M. Webber Red Bull 1:25.584 14 laps

21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:26.332 29 laps

22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:28.118 30 laps