Hamilton tops as loose drain cover halts practice

A LOOSE drain cover threw a spanner in the works of yesterday’s second practice session ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix.

The session was halted for 28 minutes as workmen, overseen by race director Charlie Whiting, re-fitted and sealed the cover at turn 10 of the Istanbul Park circuit.

At the end of the 90-minute run it was Lewis Hamilton who finished on top of the timesheets, although Kimi Raikkonen had earlier set the fastest time of the day.

Championship leader Hamilton, again on speaking terms with McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso after their fallout during the Hungarian Grand Prix, clocked one minute 28.469secs for the 5.338km track.

That, however, was half a second slower than the fastest lap from Ferrari star Raikkonen in the first practice session of 1min 27.988secs.

Raikkonen and team-mate Felipe Massa dominated the morning period, with Fernando Alonso and Hamilton 1.2secs adrift such was the pace of the scarlet machines.

Raikkonen, 20 points behind Hamilton in the standings, was forced to settle for the second quickest time in the afternoon as it was clear his car was running a heavier fuel load.

The Finn finished 0.293secs behind Hamilton, with the Toyotas of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli third and fourth, while Massa was fifth and Alonso sixth.

The top 12 drivers were all within one second of one another, with David Coulthard finishing 11th for Red Bull Racing.