Schumacher sets standard in practice

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER underlined during practice at the German Grand Prix yesterday his determination to eat further into Fernando Alonso’s points lead.

The Ferrari star, who has won the last two races, was the fastest race driver at Hockenheim with Alonso’s Renault well back in 15th place.

Schumacher was 0.277 seconds behind BMW Sauber tester Robert Kubica’s lap of one minute 16.225sec.

McLaren-Mercedes’ Kimi Raikkonen was the next fastest race driver.

The Finn was just ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Honda test driver Anthony Davidson. Williams test driver Alexander Wurz was second fastest overall, ahead of Schumacher, with a time set in the first session.

In the first session, Alonso broke his usual habit by setting a time, while Schumacher stayed in the pits.

The world champion, who is 17 points ahead of Schumacher, usually sits out the session to save tyres for later in the weekend.

But on the back of two races in which he has seen Schumacher cut his championship lead cut by eight points, he set the seventh fastest time.

Renault’s weekend looks set to be clouded in controversy after they challenged and overturned a ban by the governing body on a “mass damper” device installed in the nose of their car.

The system, which uses a counterweight within the dampers to enhance stability, had been copied by at least six other teams, but was banned by governing body FIA after the last race on the grounds it was aiding the cars’ aerodynamic performance.

However, Renault submitted their spare car for scrutiny with the component still installed.

The race stewards ruled that it was permissible, a move that could boost Alonso’s chances of ending Schumacher’s winning run as Ferrari will race without the devices.

But FIA declared it was unhappy with the stewards’ decision and is likely to appeal against it.

This, though, is not likely to happen until after next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, meaning Renault’s dampers are legal — for now.

Should Renault race with the system and win Sunday’s race, it is likely that their rivals would lodge a protest.

Renault said they were not concerned by their second session times.

“The conditions were difficult for the drivers,” engineering director Pat Symonds said.

“Even once the midday rain had disappeared, the track was left in an unusual condition and we didn’t seem to find a clear bit of it for the drivers at any point.

“However, both Giancarlo [Fisichella] and Fernando reported that the car is handling normally, and we have got a first idea of how the Michelin tyres are performing.”

Super Aguri ran their new car for the first time at a Grand Prix weekend, with Japan’s Sakon Yamamoto replacing France’s Franck Montagny in Sunday’s race lineup.