The one-hour morning practice session was trouble free for both drivers, but Mark lost time in the garage early in the second session, while a suspension problem on his car was rectified, and Alex's efforts were curtailed at the 42-minute mark by an engine problem. Despite this, the team made good technical progress during the day and looks forward to improving further tomorrow.

""We had a pretty good day, working through our normal technical programme, and also went through a tyre assessment for Michelin. The guys did a great job sorting a problem with the rear of the car early in the second session, although we did lose a bit of track time as a result. We're looking forward to making further progress tomorrow," said Webber in a press release.

"Everything was going smoothly until we had a mechanical problem just over halfway through the afternoon session, and therefore were not able to try the new tyres. The Nurburgring was always a bit of a 'go-kart' circuit, but now, in its latest form, it really is just that, the new corners making it even tighter and twistier than before. Personally, I don't like it, but we just concentrated on working through our technical programme today and will aim to make more progress tomorrow," Yoong commented.

"Like every other team here this weekend, the challenge for Minardi was to learn the new layout of the Nurburgring. Both drivers acclimatised to this during the first session, which was completed without problem. Mark suffered a technical problem at the start of the second session, however, and the mechanics did an excellent work to repair the car as quickly as they did and get him back on the track," team boss Paul Stoddart said.