Raikkonen offers McLaren hope

Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest man on day one of practice for the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring to offer hope of a McLaren resurgence.

McLaren have endured a woeful start to the season and have just five points on the board, but Raikkonen at last gave them something to cheer with his lap of one minute 29.355 seconds in second practice.

Raikkonen’s team-mate David Coulthard was fourth to further lift hopes of a change in fortunes, with few better places for it to come than on engine supplier Mercedes’ home ground in Germany.

Jenson Button was second fastest for BAR, just a quarter of a second down on Raikkonen as his good form continued. Ralf Schumacher was a whisker back in third.

BAR tester Anthony Davidson was seventh, with world champion Michael Schumacher way back in ninth, although with the top 11 separated by less than a second the German will not be too concerned, especially after recording only nine laps.

Monaco winner Jarno Trulli kept up the momentum from his first grand prix triumph, setting the fifth fastest lap.

Christian Klien’s session came to an abrupt half when the Austrian rookie lost control of his Jaguar at speed and careered into the gravel after less than 10 minutes.

Davidson was fastest early on, keeping Schumacher behind, while Mark Webber pulled out all the stops to go second after 20 minutes.

That became third though soon after when Schumacher took nearly half a second off Davidson’s time. But Raikkonen ensured the German’s stay at the top was short-lived with a superb lap.

As half distance in the one-hour session approached, Rubens Barrichello became the first man in second practice to break the 1min 30secs barrier.

The Brazilian held that spot for 20 minutes before a flurry of fast laps pushed him down to fifth, with Coulthard, Trulli and the Raikkonen taking over at the top.

The times tumbled rapidly and Button bettered his effort to dip under 1min 30secs for the first time in going second.

In this morning’s first session, Davidson upstaged Schumacher to set the fastest time.

Davidson, who is pushing hard for a race seat next season, bolstered his growing reputation with a lap of 1min 29.447secs to sit proudly on top after the one-hour session.

Schumacher was 0.184secs behind while his Ferrari team-mate Barrichello was a further quarter of a second adrift.

Webber was a surprise fourth while Button was down in 10th, more than two seconds slower than team-mate Davidson.

Coulthard was nearer three seconds off the pace in 13th for McLaren while Trulli was even further back in his Renault, setting the 15th fastest time.

Giancarlo Fisichella, who survived a scary crash in Monaco last Sunday, parked his Sauber on the grass with a mechanical problem after 37 minutes, prompting an engine change which will see him drop back 10 places on the grid.

Schumacher showed just how much he was pushing, running slightly wide before pirouetting onto the grass.

But he moved back to the top of the standings with less than five minutes to go as Coulthard overdid it and bounced across the chicane but Davidson had the last word with just over a minute left.