Its safe to say that strategies for the afternoon were many and varied. Most people tried the soft Bridgestone tyre option, and both Hamilton and Webber set their times on them. The Briton lapped his MP4-23 in 1m 26.559s, 0.914s faster than the Australian, who wheeled his RB4 round in 1m 27.473s.
Felipe Massa did 1m 27.640s on the soft tyre for Ferrari, before spinning, then came McLarens Heikki Kovalainen (1m 27.683s), Red Bulls David Coulthard (1m 28.037s on the soft tyre), Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen (1m 28.208s), Toyotas Jarno Trulli (1m 28.292s), Williams Nico Rosberg (1m 28.352s), Force Indias Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 28.469s) and Toyotas Timo Glock (1m 28.582s).
Coulthard stopped out on the circuit at the end in his Red Bull, Raikkonen and Glock had off-course moments, and Massa, Fisichella and Trulli all spun. Trulli did not get his Toyota going again.
Jenson Button made no mistakes on his way to an 11th fastest 1m 28.632s on the soft tyre for Honda, with BMW Saubers Nick Heidfeld (1m 28.731s), Renaults Fernando Alonso (1m 28.779s), Hondas Rubens Barrichello (1m 28.849s) and BMW Saubers Robert Kubica (1m 28.860s) completing the runners below 1m 29s.
Kazuki Nakajima was next for Williams on 1m 29.077s, then came Adrian Sutil in his Force India on 1m 29.161s, Sebastian Vettel on 1m 29.193s for Toro Rosso, Nelson Piquet, whose unhappy day continued with 19th fastest time of 1m 29.518s, and Sebastien Bourdais who took the second Toro Rosso round in 1m 29.605s.
At the back, Takuma Sato survived an off-course moment to head Super Aguri team mate Anthony Davidson, 1m 30.663s to 1m 31.527s.
