Practice 2 (Updated): Alonso untouchable but Massa shows his hand

Alonso established himself as the man to beat for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix after he dominated the second 90 minute practice session with a time over half a second quicker than his competitors.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa posted a late flying lap to split the Mclarens but was unable to match the pace of Alonso.

Without reading too much into the times here are a few of my session winners and losers:

Winners

While Alonso was clearly on form today I think the true stars of practice have come from further down the ranks. Nico Rosberg in particular is really starting to blossom in his Williams, a solid sixth place for him. Although I understand he was using the soft tyres.

Mark Webber (9th) was looking impressive in the early part of the session holding the fastest lap at one point. Could he have gone even faster if he had elected to go out towards the end of the session?

And I hope Barrichello’s seventh place is a sign of good things to come from Honda this weekend.

As Sven rightly predicted HERE, BMW are indeed going to be a force to be reckoned with this weekend with Heidfeld showing his hand to go fifth fastest behind the Mclarens and Ferraris.

And Sato’s tenth place suggests that the pace Super Aguri showed in first practice is genuine.

Losers

What happened to Ralf? I notice that Williams Toyota elected to run their protégé Kazuki Nakajima instead of Rosberg in the first session. Perhaps Ralf thought that the Japanese driver’s absence in the second session was a message from management that his seat was safe?

Button cannot afford to let Barrichello get the edge on him. How many times have we seen it before when drivers in a struggling team lose their fight – note the link between paragraphs.

Wurz is another driver that needs to pull one over his team-mate. Though the way Rosberg is driving at the moment I can’t see that happening.

Who have I missed out? Kovalainen. Reports say that he lost it turn 8 but I have yet to see any footage to properly comment.

Quick update: FreshF1.com have posted some nice video footage of some of the off-track moments in today's sessions HERE.

1. ALONSO McLaren 1m16.550s
2. MASSA Ferrari 1m17.090s
3. HAMILTON McLaren 1m17.307s
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m17.515s
5. HEIDFELD BMW 1m17.827s
6. ROSBERG Williams 1m17.992s
7. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m18.108s
8. FISICHELLA Renault 1m18.130s
9. WEBBER Red Bull 1m18.181s
10. SATO Super Aguri 1m18.309s
11. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m18.316s
12. KUBICA BMW 1m18.399s
13. BUTTON Honda 1m18.474s
14. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m18.493s
15. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m18.545s
16. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m18.602s
17. WURZ Williams 1m18.871s
18. TRULLI Toyota 1m18.895s
19. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m19.331s
20. ALBERS Spyker 1m19.453s
21. SUTIL Spyker 1m19.662s
22. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m20.519s