Fernando Alonso continued to set the pace on the second day of testing at Silverstone.

The Spaniard, just six points away from an historic maiden World Championship title, completed 111 laps as Renault continues its fight for 'the double', the drivers' and constructors' trophy.

Once again, the focus of attention was the new aero package and latest spec engine to be used in Brazil, though the team also spent much of the day evaluating tyres.

The Spaniard was joined by teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, who got his first taste of the new package.

Second quickest was Tonio Liuzzi, who will watch the remainder of the season from the sidelines, as Christian Klien partners David Coulthard in Brazil, Japan and China. The Italian completed 83 laps, finishing 0.6s off Alonso's pace, while Klien, who completed 96 laps, was 1.7s off the pace.

Alexander Wurz was third quickest as McLaren concluded its two-day programme. The Austrian was joined by Pedro de la Rosa, who continued with the MP4-20B (V8)

Alex' programme focussed on Michelin tyre testing for the forthcoming Japanese Grand Prix.

After each series of timed runs, Pedro returned to the garage where the test team engineers were analysing the data and making changes to the car's set up. According to the team "steady progress was made throughout the day", and the scheduled programme was completed with no problems.

"The last two days of testing have gone well," said de la Rosa. "There is obviously a big difference in power between the Mercedes-Benz V10 and the V8, but this can be adapted to by adjusting your driving style.

"We are currently on a steep learning and it is early days," he added, "but so far all is going well and we have a long Winter testing programme to look forward to, to continue our development programme."

"I can't believe we are nearly at the end of the 2005 season," admitted Wurz. "This has really been brought home to me by the fact that we have been conducting Michelin tyre development work here for the Japanese grand prix! This has been a positive test and we now have a very good idea of which tyre we will run at Suzuka next month."

Ralf Schumacher joined Olivier Panis, as the Frenchman continued with the V8. The German was the cause of a red flag period when he spun off then stopped half way across the grass/concrete to let the traffic on the track pass and beached himself!

On a day when it was announced that HP was ending its partnership with WilliamsF1, there was further misery on the track, with both Pizzonia and Rosberg encountering problems.

While Rosberg suffered a number of technical problems which restricted his running, Pizzonia suffered a suspension failure, resulting in him completing just 33 laps.

Sakon Yamamoto made his debut with Jordan, in readiness for his big day at Suzuka next month. The Japanese driver spent the day familiarising himself with the Jordan.

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