Alonso tops Valencia practice

Renault's double world champion lapped the Mediterranean port's street circuit with a quickest time of one minute, 39.404 seconds, despite an earlier collision with BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

Brawn GP's World Championship leader Jenson Button was second fastest, 0.774 slower than the Spaniard, with Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello third.

Barrichello had set the pace in the morning with a time of 1:42.460.

In what would have been a nightmare scenario for local organisers, Alonso had until Monday been in danger of missing Sunday's race after his team were handed a one-race ban in Hungary last month.

That suspension was overturned at an appeal hearing.

The Spaniard said the broadside collision with Heidfeld, which lifted and almost rolled the BMW, was just a "normal incident" but the German did not see it that way and described Alonso's behaviour as "stupid".

Ferrari stand-in Luca Badoer completed 62 laps, more than a race distance, in the two sessions but collected three fines totalling 5,400 euros and a reprimand for speeding in the pit lane.

The 38-year-old Italian, preparing for his first start in a decade after Brazilian Felipe Massa was seriously injured in Hungary, was more than a second slower than everyone else in the opening session.

However, with retired seven-times champion Michael Schumacher watching from the pit wall, he lifted himself off the bottom in the afternoon to end up 18th and ahead of McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Schumacher, who retired in 2006 and is now 40 years old, would have taken Massa's place but the German had to abort his planned comeback due to a neck injury suffered in a bike crash earlier in the year.

Hamilton had been third in the morning but hit the wall after lunch and was then sidelined by a lack of fresh parts.

"I touched the wall, but didn't even really feel the impact," he said. "I only grazed the front wing but, unfortunately, it couldn't be repaired as we didn't have a spare."

Button's time sent a clear indication that his Mercedes-powered team have got to the bottom of the problems that kept him off the podium for the past three races.

The Briton, who leads Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber by a comfortable 18.5 points after winning six of the first seven races of the year, was quickest for much of the opening session.

"It's encouraging to see that the car seems to be on the pace again," he said.

France's Romain Grosjean made an assured debut after replacing Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr at Renault, lapping 17th and 13th fastest respectively.

Spanish rookie Jaime Alguersuari also put on a good show for the locals, although the grandstands looked very empty, with the 13th best time for Toro Rosso in the morning.

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By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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