Hello and welcome to the second free practice session ahead of the 2012 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

SHUNT FOR ALONSO! Lost grip at the rear on his in-lap, and lost his front wing at Stowe. Whoops - looks like a bit of extra work for Alonso's engineers tonight.

SESSION OVER! Top 10: Hamilton, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Rosberg, Perez, Button, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Alonso

The end about to come on this soggy day of racing.

Alonso improves to 10th - he got up to a 1:59.015, about three seconds off the pace on the intermediates.

A little more rainfall looks to have dissuaded Hamilton from trying intermediates quickly at the death of the session.

Hamilton back in the pits and likely to have posted the best time of the session.

Vettel out on the intermediate tyres, but going very gingerly. He looks far from comfortable, and is several seconds down on the leading times.

Light rain predicted for the last five minutes of the session.

Alonso up to 13th - if the rain held off for another half an hour, the inters would be the right call - but it still looks a bit too wet out there for now.

Morning pace-setter, Romain Grosjean, is yet to post a time in the afternoon session.

It's been particularly difficult for teams to get a grasp of strategy and balance today - they'll hope for kinder weather tomorrow, but there are no guarantees.

Schumacher asks to change his rear pressure and he comes in for a quick stop before resuming his run.

Rosberg very quick in the opening part of the lap, but struggling to maintain that speed in the latter stages. For now he remains third.

Maldonado jumps from the foot of the timesheet up to eighth, while Vettel and Button have seen enough and dive back into the pits.

Kobayashi heads into the pits after a decent outing. His rivals pounding around the track and they are beginning to clear some of the standing water. But this is still some way from a dry line.

Top 10 with a quarter of an our remaining: Hamilton, Kobayashi, Rosberg, Perez, Schumacher, Button, Di Resta, Vettel, Massa, Hulkenberg

Hamilton sweeps into the top time with a 1:56.345. Kobayashi improves to within a tenth of that.

Rosberg and Schumacher leap up the standings into second and third respectively.

Alonso posts a 2:03.380 to get round on intermediates, but it's several seconds off the pace. The track perhaps not really ready for the inters.

Kobayashi down to 1:57.613. Vettel up to fifth, while Rosberg slots in 10th.