Free practice 3: Schuey's late flier

The world champion set the fastest lap of the weekend so far, a 1m14.509s, as the top four drivers dipped below the 1m15s mark for the first time.

Schumacher's late charge knocked Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams off the top spot. The Colombian had gone fastest with five minutes to go, while his team-mate Ralf Schumacher just missed out on beating his mark four minutes later. But Michael showed that his Ferrari will be a contender for pole position this afternoon - as always - just as the chequered flag came out.

The other Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello had become the first car to dip into the 1m14s nine minutes from the end of the session, the Brazilian going even faster on his next flier. He ended up fourth with the late improvements.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen was fifth after heading the time sheets for a while. That was despite a spin just before he put in his flier. The young Finn lost the rear end of his car as he exited Turn 4 and was lucky to keep it out of the barrier.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen set a typically quick practice pace for Arrows with sixth, ahead of British American Racing's Olivier Panis and Sauber's Felipe Massa. David Coulthard, who was fastest yesterday, was ninth. The Scot suffered a spin late in the session.

Takuma Sato had a couple of incidents, as is becoming normal for the Japanese. The Jordan rookie had a quick spin at Turn 6, then later cut across the grass at Turn 8. Despite the two sessions yesterday, drivers still report that the lakeside track remains dirty.

The fourth and final free practice session of the weekend takes place shortly.