Free Practice 4: Schuey takes control

The Ferrari ace completed just one lap in the morning's first session, but as the Monza track continued to dry after overnight rain, Schumacher did just enough to stay on top with a lap of 1m23.178s, to keep him ahead of the rapid Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya.

Try as he might, Montoya, who was quickest in the first hour of running, could not quite muster enough speed to topple the German. Despite a last gasp effort with only seconds to go, the Colombian stayed three tenths of a second behind Schumacher and had to settle for second.

Surprise of the session came from Jarno Trulli, who with only one minute remaining, leapt up the order into third place. While Jordan team mate Jean Alesi languished in 13th due to a gearbox problem, Trulli drove brilliantly to hustle his EJ11 around in 1m23.762s.

Rubens Barrichello managed to stay ahead of team mate Schumacher for the majority of the session, but as the times tumbled in the final 10 minutes, the Brazilian dropped down the order and wound up a respectable fourth.

David Coulthard saved some face for the McLaren team, which is suffering at the hands of rivals Williams and Ferrari so far this weekend. The Scot finished fifth just ahead of Ralf Schumacher in the second Williams.

Nick Heidfeld showed that he wasn't suffering from his lack of running after an accident on Friday. The Sauber ace set the seventh fastest time while team mate and new McLaren signing Kimi Raikkonen was just three places further back in 10th.

The pair were separated by Mika Hakkinen in eighth and the Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa (9th), who continues to outpace team mate Eddie Irvine (11th) this weekend. The Spaniard was third quickest in the first session of the morning, but dropped back as the Bridgestone runners moved up the order.

After a strong showing in the first session, BAR pairing Olivier Panis and Jacques Villeneuve were unable to stay at the sharp end and finished 14th and 16th respectively, with Jenson Button's Benetton in between.

Grand Prix debutante Tomas Enge continued to get to grips with his Prost and finished 20th after a brief spin at the Ascari corner.

Meanwhile, the Minardi team had a woeful morning after Alex Yoong, who is also competing in his maiden Grand Prix, suffered transmission trouble in the first session. The Malaysian has completed just two laps this morning while team mate Fernando Alonso has yet to turn a wheel today (Saturday).

For practice session 4 results, click here.