Mount Fuji, 10th October

After the novelties of the Singapore night race, it was back to the usual timetable today here in Japan and the 180 minutes of free practice were all run in dry and fine conditions, although a few drops of rain fell immediately after the afternoon session. Both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen had a troublefree day, completing a very high mileage, thus acquiring plenty of data, all the more useful given that so much time at the Fuji track last year was spent running in the wet. The lap times between the various drivers were incredibly close with only half a second splitting the fastest man from the twelfth. The honour of setting the quickest time actually went to Timo Glock, driving for Toyota, the company that owns this circuit! Singapore winner, Fernando Alonso was second fastest in the Renault, ahead of series leader, Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren-Mercedes. The current championship order continued on today's time sheet, as Felipe Massa was fourth for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro ahead of the other F2008, driven by Kimi Raikkonen, with Mark Webber completing the top six.

The few drops of rain that fell this afternoon could well be a preview of the conditions we can expect tomorrow according to some forecasts.