Formula One news

Da Matta fastest in second practice

Toyota driver Cristiano Da Matta produced a late quick lap to set the pace here Friday in a rain-affected second practice session for Sunday's French Grand Prix. Brazilian Da Matta, whose seat for next year is under pressure, returned to the track after a rain shower halted running with 20 minutes remaining and put in a lap of 1min 15.516sec.

Jarno Trulli had looked to have set a session-topping time for Renault on their home soil but the Italian driver ended 0.688secs adrift of Da Matta in second place. BAR-Honda's Anthony Davidson took third with a late lap of 1:16.231 while his team-mate Jenson Button and Ferrari world champion Michael Schumacher both posted the same time of 1:16.397 to go fourth and fifth quickest respectively.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso ended sixth for Renault in their home race with Scot David Coulthard seventh quickest and Finn Kimi Räikkönen ninth for McLaren-Mercedes as they debuted their new car. Jaguar's Australian driver Mark Webber split the McLaren pair in eighth, while Brazilian Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello completed the top-ten.

The second session of the day had started with a damp track following a torrential downpour before the green light and a second shower during the session reduced track time further. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, whose Williams team-mate Ralf Schumacher is out for three months after fracturing his back in a crash at the last race, had in big accident during the first session. His car slid backwards into the gravel at turn six and was almost flipped as the Colombian flew into the barriers at high-speed. Barrichello set the pace in that session.

Räikkönen was lucky to avoid an accident in the second session when he put a wheel on the wet run-off area but he managed to collect the car before it could send him into a spin. The FIA have given teams until midday on Saturday to make their selection for tyres after running on dry weather tyres was limited by the bad weather.

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