Free practice 3: Ferrari dominates again

Barrichello's accident came as he was pushing to take the top slot that Schumacher had held from almost the start of the session, but he admitted that the spin came purely as a result of driver error.

"You've gotta find where the limit is," he said. "Maybe I was following another car too closely, but the rear just stepped out a little bit. It's not a problem, it was a small accident."

Schumacher also half spun as he too pushed to find the limit through turn one. Other drivers to go off naturally included Alex Yoong and Felipe Massa, but both were able to continue. Yoong just made it inside of the 107 percent mark and was last; Massa was again fast and spectacular and was sixth in the times.

Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld was quick during the few laps that he ran, but a mechanical problem sidelined him for most of the session and he dropped back to ninth.

Late improvements by Montoya and Ralf Schumacher elevated Williams into the 'best of the rest' position, with David Coulthard the quickest of the McLarens in fifth, some 0.7s down on Ralf. Kimi Raikkonen was way back in 13th.

The Jordans showed good pace, and both Giancarlo Fisichella (seventh) and Takuma Sato (10th) made it into the top 10. Olivier Panis continued his good form to take eighth, while BAR team-mate Jacques Villeneuve continued to bounce his way over the kerbs of the revised section on his way to 12th.

It was another poor session for Renault and both drivers spun. Jarno Trulli did a harmless 360 and continued, but Jenson Button hit the wall hard after his engine appeared to seize.

After topping the times at the start of the session, the Jaguars gradually slipped down the order and ended in a disappointing 18th and 19th (de la Rosa the quicker of the two), ahead of just Allan McNish's Toyota and the Minardis.