Ahead of the first of today's two forty-five minute sessions, the air temperature is 18 degrees C, while the track temperature is 23 degrees. Once again, it is somewhat overcast.

Thus far, the weather forecasters appear to have got it right, certainly as far as Friday is concerned. Whereas most of us had been expecting two days of cool, overcast weather, followed by rain on Sunday, it appears many of the teams were expecting it to be much warmer this weekend, which is why several of them struggled yesterday, Alonso in particular.

First out is Christijan Albers, followed by Monteiro, Doornbos and Karthikeyan. Having completed an installation lap the Minardi and Jordan drivers return to their respective garages.

A couple of minutes later, Montoya is the first of the big guns to go out, he is followed by teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Ten minutes into the session, Giancarlo Fisichella leaves the Renault garage, he too is accompanied by his teammate.

Unlike their predecessors, the two Renault drivers complete an installation lap and then continue round, to post the first times of the day. Alonso (16.702) is the quicker of the two.

Both continue round again, and this time Fisichella (17.365) improves, while a poor second sector prevents his Spanish teammate from doing so.

Christijan Albers goes third (19.906) as teammate Robert Doornbos comes out to play.

Eighteen minutes into the session, Ralf Schumacher leaves the Toyota garage, he is followed by Villeneuve and Barrichello.

Barrichello goes third (18.603) ahead of Ralf, Albers and Villeneuve, as the other nine drivers, who have yet to make an appearance this morning, wait patiently in their garages.

Ralf improves to third (18.229), but remains 1.5s off Alonso's pace.

As Villeneuve goes third (17.941), Michael Schumacher heads down the pitlane, followed by Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn goes second (16.725) just 0.023s off the pace, as Michael goes eighth (18.601), behind Karthikeyan.

A 1:15.823 sees Raikkonen go quickest, which is enough to fire up the World Championship leader, who hits back with a 1:16.477. Elsewhere, Michael improves to sixth (17.617), but remains 1.7s off the pace.

With just over fifteen minutes remaining, it's: Raikkonen, Alonso, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Barrichello, Michael, Coulthard, Ralf, Karthikeyan and Monteiro. Eight drivers - Montoya, Button, Sato, Webber, Heidfeld, Massa, Klien and Trulli - have yet to post a time, indeed of these eight drivers, only the Colombian has ventured out this morning.

As Coulthard improves to fourth (17.116), Montoya leaves the McLaren garage, further along the pitlane Heidfeld and Trulli decide its time to do some work.

On his first flying lap, the Silverstone victor goes quickest, crossing the line at 1:15.753, to give McLaren first and second. Elsewhere, Heidfeld goes fourteenth, 4s off the pace.

A 1:17.387 sees Trulli go sixth, as Heidfeld improves to twelfth. However, the German is almost immediately demoted to fourteenth again as Sato and Button go tenth and eleventh.

Trulli improves to fourth (17.053), which suggests that once again we are going to see him qualify well, then spend the first part of the race holding up the drivers that are unlucky enough to find themselves further down the grid.

Mark Webber gives WilliamsF1 a little hope, the Australian going fourth with a 1:16.961, however, almost instantly he is leapfrogged by Klien who posts 1:16.698.

Heidfeld improves to twelfth (again) with a 1:17.536, as Massa goes fifth with a 1:16.808.

Raikkonen improves but remain second, however, next time around he goes quickest in the second sector. The Finn crosses the line at 1:15.684 to take the top spot, meanwhile Barrichello spins off into the gravel, but is able to continue.

The session ends with McLaren topping the timesheets, courtesy of Raikkonen and Montoya. Fernando Alonso is third, ahead of Klien, Massa, Coulthard, Webber, Trulli, Fisichella and Sato.