Free practice 2: Ferrari lock-out

The track had dried considerably since the first session and teams were able to run on slick tyres. Times set in this period would therefore be a more accurate indication of the true speed of the drivers.

Bobby Rahal had predicted the lap times to tumble as tyre manufacturers Bridgestone and Michelin developed softer compounds for the Imola circuit. And the Jaguar boss was proved correct just 20 minutes into the session, when Michael Schumacher was lapping quicker than last year's fastest lap of 1m26.523s, set by Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren.

The German star set the fastest time of the day, 1m25.095s, with about 15 minutes remaining. Team mate Rubens Barrichello wasn't quite able to match Schumacher, the Brazilian finishing just two tenths of a second behind.

The younger Schumacher, Ralf, enjoyed a better session than he did in his first outing today, the Williams-BMW driver was third quickest, the highest Michelin-shod car, finishing seven tenths slower than his older brother. However, his team mate Juan Pablo Montoya didn't even put in a lap - the Colombian hadn't bothered to get into his racing overalls as his Williams engineers spent the session changing the engine in his car.

Mika Hakkinen was the fastest McLaren driver, the Finn was never quite able to hook up a quick lap, but still finished the session with the fourth quickest time. He fared far better than his team mate however; David Coulthard went off at Acque Minerali with only 10 minutes of the session remaining. The Scot had done the same thing in the previous session, but had been able to get a push out of the gravel and continue. This time he was not so fortunate and found himself 11th quickest at the end of the day.

BAR got the better over Honda rivals Jordan. Olivier Panis finished the session in fifth place, while team mate Jacques Villeneuve was a further three places back. In between was the Sauber of the impressive Kimi Raikkonen and Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar.

Jarno Trulli was the best Jordan pilot in ninth, four places ahead of his team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, while Luciano Burti's Jaguar rounded out the top 10.

The Renault-powered Benettons endured another difficult day - Giancarlo Fisichella was 15th fastest and team mate Jenson Button was 17th.

For full results, click here.