Hamilton quickest again

Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace on the second day of testing at Paul Ricard today.

The McLaren driver, who leads the Formula One drivers’ standings after four rounds, lapped the French circuit in a time of 1:05.614 to outpace title rival Felipe Massa (Ferrari) by 0.141secs.

It marks the second day in succession that the 22-year-old has topped the times after edging out Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher yesterday.

Robert Kubica, impressive last time out in Spain, was third for BMW-Sauber, while David Coulthard (Red Bull) and Takuma Sato (Super Aguri), both in the points in Barcelona, completed the top five.

The teams spent the day pounding around a twisty track configuration as part of their preparations for next week’s Monaco Grand Prix, while the facility will switch to a low-downforce layout tomorrow to aid preparations for next month’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Honda, pointless thus far in 2007, have introduced sweeping aerodynamic modifications at the four-day test.

Rubens Barrichello ended today in seventh place, although his best time of the day was set without the upgrades and he was half a second slower in the revised car.

Renault’s Finnish rookie Heikki Kovalainen finished just ahead of the Honda man in sixth, while Alex Wurz (Williams) and Schumacher were eighth and ninth respectively.

Three-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais set the 10th fastest time in the Toro Rosso, while the Spykers of Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil brought up the rear.