Melbourne Friday: Massa leads Ferrari 1-2

Felipe Massa led a Ferrari one-two in the second practice session in Melbourne Friday afternoon. Like he did the entire off-season, Massa was faster than his much heralded Ferrari teammate Raikkonen, who replaces Michael Schumacher.

Race rookie Lewis Hamilton was third for McLaren, ahead of Fisichella (Renault), Nick Heidfeld (BMW) and Williams' Alex Wurz.

World champion Fernando Alonso is seventh.

True to the prediction for changeable weather, light rain started falling during the final free practice session in Melbourne on Friday.

It caught a few spinning drivers out, but lap times were not overly affected. Air temperatures hovered around a cool 20 degrees (C).

The session was red-flagged at 2.46pm local time to remove the crashed Honda of Rubens Barrichello. He spun in the final corner after putting a wheel on the grass and hit the barriers lightly with the rear of his earth-liveried RA107 car.

Rubens Barrichello admitted to making a driving error after making light contact with the Albert Park barriers on Friday afternoon. The incident brought out the red flags for fifteen minutes.

"I just put a wheel on the grass," Honda's Brazilian said as he walked back to pit lane, "but before I spun I was quite encouraged by the pace."

Shortly before that, Heikki Kovalainen's Renault ground to a halt at turn five with an apparent mechanical failure.

Local hero Mark Webber's (pictured right) day of practice at Albert Park ended early after he coasted into pit lane with a silent Red Bull.

Mechanics worked at the rear of the car and paddock whispers suggested a possible engine or gearbox issue.

If the Renault V8 needs to be replaced, the Australian driver will avoid penalty thanks to the revised weekend format for the 2007 season.

Webber ended the session seventeenth quickest.

Giancarlo Fisichella rounded out a miserable Friday for defending champions Renault by stopping at turn three. Teammate Heikki Kovalainen also brought his R27 to a halt earlier in the second practice session with an unknown mechanical problem.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen became the first driver in 2007 to cop an FIA speeding fine, but at 200 Euros for exceeding the 60kph pit lane speed limit by 1.7kph, it is unlikely to break the Finn's bank.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari 1:27.353 32
2. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:27.750 + 0.397 33
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.829 + 0.476 29
4. Fisichella Renault 1:27.941 + 0.588 33
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:27.970 + 0.617 27
6. Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:27.981 + 0.628 31
7. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.040 + 0.687 25
8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:28.055 + 0.702 29
9. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:28.281 + 0.928 26
10. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:28.495 + 1.142 23
11. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:28.727 + 1.374 28
12. Trulli Toyota 1:28.921 + 1.568 33
13. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:29.009 + 1.656 23
14. Button Honda 1:29.066 + 1.713 30
15. Barrichello Honda 1:29.542 + 2.189 12
16. R.Schumacher Toyota 1:29.574 + 2.221 26
17. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:29.801 + 2.448 11
18. Kovalainen Renault 1:30.097 + 2.744 10
19. Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:30.383 + 3.030 28
20. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:31.108 + 3.755 35
21. Albers Spyker-Ferrari 1:31.175 + 3.822 32
22. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:31.693 + 4.340 16