Raikkonen Fastest in Practice 3 - Germany

The duo were closely matched in the cool conditions and they finished the session split by just 0.069 seconds after Raikkonen claimed the top spot with a lap time of 1:15.684 late in the session.

But title race leader Fernando Alonso did enough to prove he is in position to pick up top points in the wake of the McLarens as he finished the best of the rest some 0.793 seconds off the pace.

Alonso's 26-point lead over Raikkonen in the Championship chase means he simply needs to pick up second-best points to cruise his way to the title but his pace showed Renault are likely to have to do just that this weekend.

Christian Klien claimed fourth fastest time in his Red Bull Racing machine, just ahead of Felipe Massa's Sauber with the second Red Bull of David Coulthard, who missed much of Friday practice following a spin, in sixth.

Mark Webber was seventh for Williams with Jarno Trulli, of Toyota, in eighth and Giancarlo Fisichella, in the second Renault, down in ninth place some 1.377 seconds off the lead pace.

BAR-Honda duo Takuma Sato and Jenson Button finished 10th and 11th respectively while World Champion and home hero Michael Schumacher was 1.933 seconds slower than session-leader Raikkonen in 15th place.

Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello was one place ahead of the German but he suffered an off and ran across the gravel traps, as did Alonso and also Narain Karthikeyan, in the Jordan, late in the session.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time               Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:15.684            10
 2.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:15.753  + 0.069    5
 3.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:16.477  + 0.793   14
 4.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:16.698  + 1.014    7
 5.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:16.799  + 1.115    7
 6.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:16.926  + 1.242   16
 7.  Webber        Williams-BMW      (M)  1:16.961  + 1.277    7
 8.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:17.053  + 1.369    7
 9.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:17.061  + 1.377   14
10.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:17.331  + 1.647    5
11.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:17.397  + 1.713    8
12.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:17.408  + 1.724   11
13.  Heidfeld      Williams-BMW      (M)  1:17.536  + 1.852    8
14.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:17.599  + 1.915   10
15.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:17.617  + 1.933    9
16.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:18.102  + 2.418   12
17.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:18.217  + 2.533   17
18.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:18.229  + 2.545    8
19.  Doornbos      Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:19.083  + 3.399   17
20.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:19.103  + 3.419   14

All timing unofficial