Friday Second Free Practice - Bahrain GP

Ferrari finished fastest in the second practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday when Rubens Barrichello led the field in a thrilling incident-packed session that saw tyres crumbling in the desert heat.

Brazilian Barrichello set a time of 1:31.450 but his scarlet team's first session dominance dissolved to nothing as Colombian Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya finished just one thousandth of a second behind.

World Champion Michael Schumacher could only manage fourth place, 0.282 seconds behind his teammate, after being beaten into third place by British BAR-Honda test driver Anthony Davidson.

But the temperatures at the sun-drenched desert circuit, which rose to 31 degrees Celsius ambient and 51 degrees Celsius on the track, caused havoc with Ferrari's rivals Renault and McLaren-Mercedes.

McLaren's troubles came early in the second session when Kimi Raikkonen ground to a halt at turn nine with a suspected engine failure that caused a small fire at the back of his car.

Raikkonen, who has failed to finish a race this year because of engine and transmission problems in Australia and Malaysia respectively, had been on his first out-lap having completed just 10 laps in the first session.

Fernando Alonso, who had topped the times early in the session for Renault, was forced to cruise into the pits after his right rear tyre disintegrated after he went off the track at turn 15 with half the session gone. He finished ninth.

His teammate Jarno Trulli spun at turn 10 and was forced to stop at the next corner with fire coming out of the back of his car after the second suspected engine failure of the session.

Jaguar driver Christian Klien, of Austria, was fifth fastest with German Ralf Schumacher sixth for Williams, Briton Jenson Button seventh for BAR-Honda and Australian Mark Webber eighth in the second Jaguar.

Klien had briefly gone off the track after making a mistake in his Jaguar at turn 11 early in the session but Nick Heidfeld was not so fortunate as he was forced to park his Jordan at the side of the track 12 minutes in.

Schumacher proved he is not without fault after 20 minutes when he spun at turn 11. He soon became the first man to break into the one minute 31 seconds with a time of 1:31.732 but was eventually toppled by the end of the session.

With five minutes to go David Coulthard was forced to stop when his car's left rear tyre delaminated - the second Michelin tyre to do so in the session - and sent him spinning into the gravel at turn six.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:31.450 19 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:31.451 + 0.001 21 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:31.488 + 0.038 26 4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:31.732 + 0.282 22 5. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:31.789 + 0.339 19 6. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:31.842 + 0.392 25 7. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:31.879 + 0.429 21 8. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:32.041 + 0.591 23 9. Alonso Renault (M) 1:32.234 + 0.784 21 10. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:32.335 + 0.885 26 11. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:32.495 + 1.045 17 12. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:32.680 + 1.230 15 13. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:32.708 + 1.258 17 14. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:32.761 + 1.311 19 15. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:33.031 + 1.581 22 16. Panis Toyota (M) 1:33.049 + 1.599 17 17. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:33.061 + 1.611 23 18. Trulli Renault (M) 1:33.437 + 1.987 12 19. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:33.695 + 2.245 25 20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:34.054 + 2.604 12 21. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:34.317 + 2.867 23 22. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:34.791 + 3.341 14 23. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:36.248 + 4.798 23 24. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:40.573 + 9.123 5 25. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) no time 1 All timing unofficial