Flying Finn tops second practice

Kovalainen was the only driver to duck under the one minute 20 second barrier with a lap of 1min 19.989secs, which was four tenths slower than the overall fastest time set by Ferrari's Felipe Massa on Friday morning.

Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber celebrated his new one-year contract extension with second place, half a second slower than the Finn, while Kovalainen's team-mate Lewis Hamilton popped up into third place with a late 1:20.543 effort.

Reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen was subdued in the second Ferrari, comfortably off the pace of both McLarens and his team-mate on both light and heavy fuel runs.

The Finn's best time in the second session was 1:21.275, three tenths slower than Massa who completed significantly fewer laps than his team-mate following a huge accident this morning.

The Ferrari driver lost control of his car at the end of the 180mph Hangar Straight, spinning on oil dropped when the engine failed in Fernando Alonso's Renault just minutes earlier.

The Ferrari scrubbed off little speed as it pirouetted off the track and slammed backwards into a tyre barrier, destroying the rear end of the car. Race control immediately threw the red flag to suspend the session with 33 minutes remaining.

Massa extracted himself from the car unaided but there was an 18-minute delay while the Brazilian's crumpled Ferrari was prised away from the Stowe Corner barrier and marshals cleared away the oil deposited by Alonso's stricken Renault.

Despite playing no further part in the 90-minute session, Massa's time of 1:19.575, set just before his accident, was good enough to top the timesheets - and ensure him the fastest overall time.