Raikkonen's impressive start under threat

Pedro de la Rosa set the pace in second practice for the French Grand Prix today as McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen’s hopes of gaining ground in the world championship battle potentially went up in smoke.

Test driver de la Rosa followed up his fastest time in first practice with another rapid effort around Magny-Cours this afternoon to set the standard.

His lap of one minute 15.129 seconds was over half a second faster than Juan Pablo Montoya, but McLaren’s one-two was overshadowed by Raikkonen’s misfortune earlier in the session.

Raikkonen’s chances of cutting Fernando Alonso’s 22-point lead in the championship suffered a worrying blow when his Mercedes engine appeared to fail.

Just five minutes into the session, Raikkonen’s car began pluming smoke from its engine, raising the prospect of a 10-place grid penalty if it needs changing.

World champion Michael Schumacher, eeking his eighth win at Magny-Cours, continued to show gradual progress from Ferrari by taking third spot with Alonso’s Renault fourth.

Giancarlo Fisichella claimed fifth in the second Renault while Olivier Panis, on his return to the cockpit as guest third driver for Toyota, was sixth. David Coulthard took his Red Bull to 10th.

Raikkonen’s engine problem ensured a dramatic start to the session and just 10 minutes later Red Bull’s Christian Klien also saw his session come to a premature end when he slid into a tyre wall.

The Austrian lost control at the entry to turn seven and slid sideways into the barrier at high speed, knocking off his front wing.

De la Rosa was consistently quickest through the early part of the session, dropping his lap time whenever a rival got close.

But he lost out to fellow Spaniard Alonso after 20 minutes, as Coulthard showed an encouraging turn of speed to move into second.

Ferrari, fresh from their first one-two of the season at Indianapolis, showed their increased speed as the midpoint of the session approached.

Rubens Barrichello went marginally faster initially before Schumacher sliced nearly half a second off that time soon after.

The times fell rapidly as the circuit began to speed up, with more rubber being laid down after last night’s torrential rain washed it clean.

That was not enough grip for Coulthard, who ran wide at the hairpin for the second time in the session.

Fisichella also ran out of road with just five minutes left to run, losing the rear of his Renault entering the final chicane and spinning backwards on to the grass.

De la Rosa was fastest in the first session this morning, with a time of 1min 14.778secs, with the Renault pair of Alonso and Fisichella second and third respectively.