Button aims to shine as Trulli falters

England's Jenson Button ended up ninth quickest, having ended the first session second fastest, and rued the understeer his car developed as the track dried out.

"We had a good morning, but it tailed off a little during the afternoon," said Jenson. "It's a shame to be ninth. In terms of the aero package, it was hard to judge in these conditions - we need to wait for the sun to come out!"

Trulli, meanwhile, wasn't so chipper about his chances, and complained about the handling of his R202 throughout as he languished in 16th place, ahead only of the Minardis and the sole Toyota of Allan McNish.

"I'm definitely not happy," he said. "It was a difficult day for me. The car feels strange and seems to be behaving differently to normal. We worked on set-up and tyres to solve the problem, but we didn't get to the bottom of it."

Technical director Mike Gascoyne added: "Jarno had a few problems with set-up, and both drivers suffered from understeer as the track dried. We are hoping for dry conditions tomorrow."