Alonso sets the fastest time in practice

Fernando Alonso got a small boost after some terrible weeks when he dominated practice for the German Formula One Grand Prix on Friday in a Ferrari.

The former world champion Alonso posted 1 minute 16.265 seconds on a mainly dry 4.574-kilometres track in the afternoon after rain had marred the morning session.

Alonso pipped German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, who posted 1:16.294. Felipe Massa was third in 1:16.438 in the second Ferrari and Mark Webber fourth in the other Red Bull in 1:16.585 minutes.

Spain’s Alonso won the season-opener in Bahrain but struggled with safety car phases and a drive through penalty in the last few races to drop all but out of contention in the championship.

World championship leader Lewis Hamilton placed seventh in the afternoon session. He drove only in the final 10 of 90 minutes because mechanics needed a long time to repair the McLaren after he spun off the wet morning track and hit a tyre wall.

Team-mate Jenson Button was a modest 15th after coming third in the morning behind Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Massa.

Like Hamilton, Michael Schumacher recovered from a poor morning showing in second-from-last place to come sixth for Mercedes.