Formula One: New Car Helps Raikkonen to Narrow the Gap

Kimi Raikkonen raised McLaren-Mercedes' hopes of giving Michael Schumacher another solid run for his money in tomorrow's German grand prix when he posted an impressive second fastest time in the first practice session, less than 0.1 seconds slower than the world champion.

Two weeks after the Finn finished second in the British grand prix, McLaren arrived at Hockenheim trying to suppress a sense of expectancy after a Silverstone test session in which the new MP4/19B lapped even quicker than in the race.

"We completed our planned programme and are pretty happy with how things went," said Raikkonen, who also hopes his car's Michelin tyres may have the edge over Ferrari's Bridgestone rubber in torrid conditions where track temperatures can be expected to top 50 degrees.

"The car is OK and we are confident with our tyre choice," said the Finn. "So far so good and, based on today, we should be in with a good chance of a very competitive result."

Raikkonen finished the day just ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams-BMW, Jenson Button's BAR-Honda, the second Williams-BMW of formula one returnee Antonio Pizzonia and the BAR test driver Anthony Davidson.

Unfortunately, Honda celebrated confirmation of their continuing with BAR at least until the end of 2007 by suffering a failure which left Button's car needing an engine change and relegating him to the back of the starting grid.

The Hockenheim weekend traditionally marks the start of the formula one "silly season", when measured speculation about the drivers' transfer market is whipped up into a frenzy of paddock gossip. Central to speculation is the possibility of Mika Hakkinen, the 1998 and 99 world champion, coming out of retirement to join Williams-BMW after three seasons in retirement.

Frank Williams refused to comment on Hakkinen but team insiders concede that a return by the man regarded by Schumacher as his most formidable opposition over the past decade would be a tantalising prospect.

Hakkinen recently won a couple of Porsche Cup sports car races on a guest outing at Hameenlinna in Finland and is understood to be bored with life in retirement.

But whether this is the ideal catalyst for a return to formula one given that safety fears had been a driving force behind his retirement at the end of 2001 is another matter altogether.

However, Williams certainly has two seats to fill next season when Ralf Schumacher switches to Toyota and Montoya moves to McLaren.

Giancarlo Fisichella, currently driving with Sauber, had been tipped as a likely candidate to fill one of the seats, probably alongside the Australian Mark Webber, who will switch from Jaguar. But yesterday it emerged that Fisichella was deep in negotiations with the Renault team.

If Fisichella goes to Renault, he will replace his fellow Italian Jarno Trulli as Fernando Alonso's team-mate, clearing the way for Trulli to switch to Toyota alongside Ralf Schumacher in a deal brokered by Flavio Briatore, the Renault team principal, whose FB management company guides both Trulli and Webber.