Ferrari's championship leader Felipe Massa crashed heavily but still set the fastest time in Friday's free practice for the British Grand Prix. Massa, the first Brazilian to lead the Formula One standings since the late Ayrton Senna in 1993, skidded on oil deposited on the track by the Renault of double world champion Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari spun at the 210kph Stowe corner, slamming backwards into the wall with 33 minutes of the first session remaining. Massa stepped out unhurt but the car suffered considerable damage to the rear. The red flags came out as marshals removed the wreckage and cleared oil from the track during an 18-minute stoppage. Alonso had pulled up at the same corner only minutes previously, with a plume of smoke billowing from the engine of his Renault. Massa, winner of three races so far this season, had been top of the timesheets when he crashed after completing eight timed laps and nobody was able to go faster when the session re-started. His best lap of one minute 19.575 seconds was well inside the 2007 pole position time of 1:19.997 set by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was second fastest in the morning, in 1:19.587, and led the afternoon session with a lap of 1:19.989 ahead of Australian Mark Webber in a Red Bull. Hamilton, in need of a home win after two races without a point, was third in both sessions with Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen fourth in the morning. Massa missed much of the afternoon running before returning to the track for 18 laps with the eighth best time in that session. Toyota had a difficult afternoon, with Germany's Timo Glock stopping with a drive-train problem and Italian Jarno Trulli crashing into the tire wall at Stowe when his rear wing flew off at the end of Hangar Straight. Japan's Kazuki Nakajima also spun his Williams into the barriers at Bridge. Massa leads BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica by two points after eight races, with Raikkonen in third place a further three behind. Hamilton is 10 points behind Massa with all four drivers taking it in turns to lead the championship over the last four races. – Reuters __
