McLaren Mercedes in a league of their own
German GP - Second practice





P1, P2 and P4 for McLaren at Hockenheim!

Running more laps than anyone else, Alex Wurz was unsurprisingly the fastest man on track once again in the second practice session today at Hockenheim. The McLaren Mercedes test driver led the way by six- tenths of a second from Kimi Raikkonen in what was a crushing display of superiority from the Woking-based team.

Fernando Alonso took the third best time in his Championship leading Renault, but was a full second slower than his championship rival Raikkonen and some 1.5 seconds off the pace of Alex Wurz. McLaren Mercedes clearly have the edge at this early stage of the German Grand Prix weekend.

British Grand Prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth fastest in his MP4-20, making it three out of four for the squad on a day when they showed no signs of any reliability issues that have plagued Raikkonen in recent weeks.

Ricardo Zonta was fifth fastest in the Toyota while race regulars Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher were ninth and 11th respectively for the team. Giancarlo Fisichella was a relatively low-key sixth best in the second Renault ahead of Felipe Massa who did a good job today for the Sauber Petronas team.



Over at Red Bull Cosworth it was a day of mixed fortunes as test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi did a solid job in taking the eighth best time four places ahead of Christian Klien while David Coulthard did not even set a lap time, crashing out at the final turn on his first hot lap of the session.

Michael Schumacher was as ever the fastest Ferrari and Bridgestone runner but tenth position and 2.5 seconds lap down on Wurz tells its own story for the Italian champions. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello was just 16th.



1. 35 WURZ McLaren Mercedes M 1'13"973 222.600 Km/h
2. 9 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'14"576 + 0'00"603
3. 5 ALONSO Renault M 1'15"560 + 0'01"587
4. 10 MONTOYA McLaren Mercedes M 1'15"772 + 0'01"799
5. 38 ZONTA Toyota M 1'16"091 + 0'02"118
6. 6 FISICHELLA Renault M 1'16"146 + 0'02"173
7. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas M 1'16"161 + 0'02"188
8. 37 LIUZZI RedBull Cosworth M 1'16"297 + 0'02"324
9. 16 TRULLI Toyota M 1'16"411 + 0'02"438
10. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'16"474 + 0'02"501
11. 17 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota M 1'16"575 + 0'02"602



Best Car and Best Driver.

 

SCHU PLAYS DOWN EXPECTATIONS
Last Updated: Friday, 22, July, 2005, 17:37


Michael Schumacher has played down his chances of scoring a big result in front of his home crowd at Hockenheim this weekend.

Speaking before today