Alonso fires Magny-Cours warning

Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso [Images] fired off a warning to his Formula One rivals on Friday by lapping comfortably quicker than them in French Grand Prix free practice.

BMW [Images] Sauber's Robert Kubica [Images] topped the timesheets in both sessions but the young Polish test driver will not race on Sunday.

Alonso, winner of six of the 10 races to date and 19 points clear of Ferrari's [Images] Michael Schumacher [Images] in the standings, was second quickest in the afternoon session after sitting out the morning.

His time of one minute 17.498 seconds was the fastest by a race driver on a day dominated by the unsung testers.

Of the 22 drivers who will be on the starting grid at Magny-Cours, only four made the top 10 in the second session -- Renault's Italian Giancarlo Fisichella the fifth quickest with a lap of 1:17.916, ahead of sixth-placed Schumacher's 1:17.938.

Briton Jenson Button [Images] had shown promise with the third best time in the opening session as most of the leading drivers saved their engines on a hot and cloudless Bastille Day at the circuit in the heart of rural France [Images].

Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso fired off a warning to his Formula One rivals on Friday by lapping comfortably quicker than them in French Grand Prix free practice.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica topped the timesheets in both sessions but the young Polish test driver will not race on Sunday.

Alonso, winner of six of the 10 races to date and 19 points clear of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher in the standings, was second quickest in the afternoon session after sitting out the morning.

His time of one minute 17.498 seconds was the fastest by a race driver on a day dominated by the unsung testers.

Briton Jenson Button had shown promise with the third best time in the opening session as most of the leading drivers saved their engines on a hot and cloudless Bastille Day at the circuit in the heart of rural France.

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