Free practice 4: Guess who...

The Ferrari star improved his pace by almost a whole second compared to the previous session and was the only driver to get into the 1m14s. With the track temperature gradually rising, a lap of 1m13s or possibly even a high 1m12s will be needed to claim pole position in qualifying this Saturday afternoon.

Although Barrichello lost some valuable track time by having to miss the final 45-minute session, the Brazilian seems the man most likely to challenge Schumacher for pole. However, the Williams drivers, especially Montoya, should not be discounted, although the Colombian needs to find an extra second compared to his performance in practice if he's to take a sixth straight pole.

The battle for the lower places should be equally tense. The McLarens have not shown great speed in practice and indeed David Coulthard was back in ninth, while Kimi Raikkonen was even further from the pace in 12th. However, with just over a second separating Nick Heidfeld in fifth from Jacques Villeneuve in 16th, putting together a clean lap could make all the difference in qualifying.

Felipe Massa backed up his Sauber team-mate to take sixth, while Giancarlo Fisichella again went well for Jordan in seventh. Mika Salo enjoyed his best session of the weekend to finish up eighth, and Allan McNish was just a couple of tenths behind his team-mate in 10th.

With progressively more rubber being laid on the track and the drivers more aware of where the limit lies, there were fewer spins than has become the norm so far this weekend. However, that didn't stop Alex Yoong from enjoying yet another wild ride over the gravel, and with Michael Schumacher upping the ante at the head of the field, the Malaysian failed to set a time within the 107 percent limit. He'll need to up his pace this afternoon if he's to make the grid for his first ever German GP.

Enrique Bernoldi spun and stalled early on, which dropped him from just outside the top 10, back to 19th. Jenson Button managed to get in a couple of laps in the dying minutes of the session after an engine change, but he didn't improve his time and wound up 20th. Team-mate Jarno Trulli gave Renault's morale a boost by setting the 11th best time, the team's most competitive showing of the weekend.