Ahead of today's second session the air temperature is 15 degrees C, while the track temperature is 24 degrees. Although it remains cool it is clearly brighter than this morning.

Fernando Alonso demonstrated that his team's Silverstone win was no fluke this morning, the Spaniard and his Ferrari teammate finishing first and fourth. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel finished second and third while the McLarens were fifth and sixth just ahead of the Mercedes duo.

A number of teams were trying updates this morning however, it was worth noting that Renault were having overheating problems on nick Heidfeld's car which was running as revised forward facing exhaust layout.

Tyre compounds are medium and soft with some of the best times being set on an experimental soft compound that Pirelli is trying out today.

The lights go green and there is a flurry of activity, within seconds there are nine cars on track all from the lower midfield and below. That said, Perez in on track but it still shown at the very foot of the timing screen.

Alguersuari goes quickest (36.498) ahead of Kovalainen, Chandhok, Glock and Ricciardo as Barrichello returns to the pits complaining that he can feel something in his cockpit.

Chandhok does a 180 in Turn 3 as Hamilton takes to the tarmac run off in Turn 1, the track still green and slippery. Elsewhere, Alonso goes quickest in the first two sectors, finally crossing the line at 32.990.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Perez left the pitlane before the lights went green… the Mexican can therefore expect to be meeting the stewards at some point this afternoon.

On his first flying lap Vettel goes second, albeit 1.9s slower than Alonso. As Hamilton posts 34.3963 to go second Ricciardo pulls off to the side of the track with smoke pouring from the back of his car.

Heidfeld goes fourth (35.267), the German now running a rearward facing exhaust while his Russian teammate is now running the forward facing version.

Rosberg is advised that his telemetry is not working nor his GPS. As a replay shows the Mercedes running over a piece of carbon fibre, the German is advised that his GPS is functioning again.

Webber moves up to second with a 33.642 as Massa goes fourth (34.369) ahead of Hamilton, Heidfeld and Sutil. After sixteen minutes only Buemi and Petrov haven't posted times.

Michael Schumacher is advised that he's "tending to stay on the throttle whilst braking in turns 1, 3 and 7".

Massa flat spots his front left with a massive lock up as he enters the pitlane. In the Renault garage the crew continues to work on Heidfeld's exhaust. Meanwhile, teammate Petrov goes fourth with a 33.956.

Thirty-five minutes into the session, Massa makes it a Ferrari -1-2 with a 32.466. With Webber and Vettel third and fourth we're pretty much seeing a repeat of this morning's form, Ferrari and Red Bull having the clear edge over their rivals.

A massive lock-up for Maldonado as the Williams driver tries to improve on seventeenth. With teammate Barrichello sixteenth, the Grove outfit looks to be facing a tough weekend.

Buemi's session appears to be over, the Swiss - whose morning session ended in the gravel trap - suffering a chronic misfire.

Alonso says he can see spots of rain, however, his team tell him that they are not aware of it. The TV camera closes in on a monitor which claims that no rain is expected within the next thirty minutes.

At half-time, it's: Massa, Alonso, Webber, Petrov, Vettel, Hamilton, Alguersuari, Kobayashi, Perez and Sutil.

A nasty, very bumpy cross country excursion for Barrichello as Alonso consolidates second with a 32.990. Next time around the Spaniard goes quickest (31.879) having posted purples in the first and final sectors.

Hamilton posts PBs in all three sectors to go third, however, he remains 0.845s off Alonso's impressive pace.