Ahead of this afternoon's free practice session, the air temperature is 22 degrees C, while the track temperature is 41 degrees. It remains bright and sunny.

The lights go green and Alonso, Piquet, Bourdais, Heidfeld and Piquet are first out.

Unlike the first session, fans have to wait just a couple of minutes before the drivers are posting times, with Kubica setting an early benchmark (17.647). However, Kovalainen is on track and already up on the Pole.

Though he fails at the first attempt, it isn't long before Kovalainen goes quickest, the Finn posting 17.001. Moments later, his McLaren teammate goes third (17.188), the Woking duo sandwiching Sebastian Vettel.

As Hamilton goes quickest with a 16.500, Kubica is clearly having problems, however, his message to his crew is totally inaudible, sounding akin to something one might hear on the London Underground.

Eleven minutes into the session, Raikkonen is the first of the Ferrari drivers to emerge. Elsewhere, Coulthard goes fourth, ahead of Trulli, Kubica, Heidfeld and Fisichella.

Alonso goes second, splitting Hamilton and Vettel, with a 16.607, thereby giving Renault a much-needed, albeit temporary, morale boost.

Nineteen minutes into the session, Massa heads down the pitlane. The Ferrari driver - whose teammate is currently sixth quickest - is the only driver yet to post a time. Having gone quickest in the second sector, the Brazilian goes second, just 0.069s off Hamilton's pace.

As Massa improves again, so too does Raikkonen, the Finn going second on the timesheets.

Massa is one of a number of drivers to take full advantage of the wide tarmac run offs, as drivers continue to struggle for grip.

David Coulthard goes fifth with a 16.618, the Scot still buoyed by his Montreal success.

Hamilton improves with a 16.500, but moments later it is teammate Kovalainen who knocks Massa off the top spot, the Finn posting 16.340.

There aren't that many gravel traps at Magny-Cours, instead the circuit relies on the massive tarmac run offs. However, Hamilton ends up in the gravel at Estoril, though somehow he manages to extricate himself.

Clearly meaning everything he said about having a "lust for winning", Raikkonen posts 16.002 to go quickest, as Massa also improves. Moments later, looking as though he's about to emulate Hamilton's mistake, Massa somehow not only holds it all together but goes top of the timesheets with a 15.854. Next time around, the Ferrari driver isn't so lucky, and takes to the gravel.

We haven't seen much of the softer option thus far, but Vettel is running them now. The German has been hovering in the upper echelons of the timesheets all afternoon, and now he takes fourth with a 16.487. The only other driver running on the softer tyre is Rosberg, who improves to eighth.

Just to clarify, the softer option is soft, while the harder option is medium. Got that?

Piquet kicks up a great cloud of dust as he visits the gravel at Chateau d'Eau. Elsewhere, a beautiful, though jarring, slo-mo shot of Sutil hitting the kerbs at the chicane. Moments later he's in the gravel, the German clearly pushing just a little too hard.

Kubica is on track on the soft option. At the first split he's 0.044s up on Massa, but by the second he's still just 0.048s off the pace. A poor third sector, however, sees him finish almost half-a-second down on the Ferrari driver.

It's a Ferrari 1-2 (again) as Raikkonen improves to 15.999, ahead of Vettel, Kovalainen and Kubica.

With just under half-an-hour remaining, the top twelve are covered by 0.904s.

Alonso takes it to the max, attacking the kerbs, sliding his rear end, and it all pays off when he crosses the line just 0.406s off the pace to go third. Stunning lap.

With fifteen minutes remaining, it's: Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso, Vettel, Kovalainen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Hamilton, Coulthard, Rosberg, Trulli, Bourdais, Piquet, Nakajima, Glock, Webber, Button, Fisichella, Barrichello and Sutil.

The final assault begins, and as expected most drivers are on the soft option.