13:22 Button is in 1m21s and 1m22s early in his run, Schumacher mostly in 1m22s after five laps, as is Webber after eight laps. Kovalainen's stint has ranged from 1m26.0s to 1m28.0s so far. 13:16 Kovalainen has improved too, the Lotus now on 1m26.033s. 13:12 And sure enough, out comes Kovalainen. Webber leaves the pits too. 13:10 @MikeGascoyne: "Heikki about to do some longer runs to compare the two tyre compounds"
14:41 Just an installation lap for Kovalainen following the exhaust repairs by the look of things, the Lotus pits again. 14:39 Hulkenberg, Kubica, Sutil, Alguersuari and Kovalainen head straight out. 13:50 Seems Lotus had to curtail that last stint: @MikeGascoyne - "Stopped long run with a cracked exhaust. Back out soon" 13:34 Button and Kovalainen also return to the pits, while Kubica just did another quick in and out. So that leaves Webber out by himself.
EDIT:
15:02 Excitement for Kovalainen's fans as the Lotus returns to the track and immediately improves to 1m24.924s.
15:36 Kovalainen improves to 1m23.521s, 0.017s splits the new teams. 15:34 Lotus is winning the mileage battle today - 56 laps and counting for Kovalainen, 34 for di Grassi. 15:34 Both teams have had their gremlins today, but will probably be pleased to be around 4s off the pace at this stage. 15:33 Kovalainen sets out again - can he get Lotus back ahead of Virgin in the remaining minutes? 15:28 Kovalainen returns to the pits after setting that time. Three laps with an average of 1m24.1s. 15:26 More gains from Lotus - Kovalainen down to 1m23.7s. Di Grassi is now just 0.2s ahead in the battle of the newcomers. 15:26 Kobayashi gets his time down to 1m22.810s and is back ahead of the two new teams, while Kovalainen improves to 1m24.238s. 15:22 Kovalainen is on track again now incidentally, as are Kobayashi, Sutil and Kubica, plus Hulkenberg and Webber on their existing long runs. 15:21 That mention of spelling is because the Lotus boss accidentally spelt his driver's name 'Heikke' earlier, which someone probably pointed out to him. 15:21 @tonyfernandes: "Heikki ( spelling correct ) going out. Learning lots. Car has pace. 5 months. Not bad."
