Free practice 2: Hakkinen fights back

Hakkinen, who is taking a sabbatical from Formula 1 next year, was only able to complete four laps during the morning's first session due to car trouble. But the flying Finn came back to knock Schumacher from the top spot just 10 minutes before the end of session two.

Despite a late attempt to move back in front in the dying minutes, Schumacher was unable to better his McLaren rival's time of 1m13.387s and the German wound up in second spot, 0.165s behind.

After a multitude of spins during the first session, the second hour of free running was less eventful. As drivers continued to hone their set-ups around the famous Brickyard circuit, Ferrari and McLaren continued to dominate.

Rubens Barrichello finished in third spot, just ahead of the man he is fighting for second place in the drivers' championship, David Coulthard. After running Schumacher close in session one, DC was unable to do better than fourth.

Eddie Irvine threw the form book out of the window by putting his Jaguar in fifth place and assuming the position of highest Michelin runner. Irvine has been out-qualified by team mate Pedro de la Rosa for the last six races, but the Ulsterman attempted to redress the balance finishing three places ahead of the Spaniard.

With the banked Turn 13 followed by a long pit straight, the powerful BMW engine was expected to put the Michelin-shod Williams right at the sharp end this weekend, but drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya found themselves at the foot of the top 10 in ninth and 10th respectively.

Nick Heidfeld continued to underline both his talent and the pace of his Sauber by finishing in sixth place while team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who is taking Hakkinen's McLaren seat next year, wound up in 11th.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen managed to hustle his Prost AP04 around the twisty Indianapolis infield to put in a lap less than half a second shy of Hakkinen's top time and finish a creditable seventh. His former Jordan team, meanwhile, clearly struggled with Jean Alesi and Jarno Trulli in 12th and 14th.

The major incidents of the session were caused by Jos Verstappen, whose Arrows came to a smoking halt at the entrance to the pit lane just two minutes before the end, and Tomas Enge. The Czech spun the second Prost at Turn 9 and after managing to neatly spin his car round to face the right direction, he promptly stalled costing him valuable cockpit time.

With 'big guns' Ferrari and McLaren quite evenly matched thus far, Saturday's qualifying promises to make interesting viewing. Schumacher took pole position last year and went on to dominate the race. McLaren will be hoping to prevent a repeat performance.

For combined practice results, click here.