Two-time world champion Alonso braved the testing morning weather to clock the best lap of one minute 25.252 seconds with teammate Massa setting the second quickest time.

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Anstey beat the lap record twice, posting a best new time of 128.40mph, and he also broke the race record by more than a minute.

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As for the rear of the field, that was brought up by Fisichella on his first drive for Ferrari, but, like Hamilton and Button, his time of 1:25.543 was appreciably slower than his best lap earlier in the day.

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Four-time Champ Car title winner Bourdais was eighth quickest of the 10 drivers in action, with a best lap of one minute 20.715 seconds.

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