Friday Second Free Practice - Brazilian GP

David Coulthard recovered from a disappointing morning session at Interlagos to rise to the top of the timesheets in his McLaren-Mercedes on Friday afternoon in practice for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Scot Coulthard has already admitted his Championship hopes are slim after two non-finishes from the two races this year, but he boosted his hopes of success in Brazil by finishing almost 0.3 seconds faster than the Williams-BMW of Juan Pablo Montoya as the Michelin tyres used by both teams proved to work well in the hot conditions.

It was a good day for Scotland as Allan McNish finished third in the Toyota, four tenths slower than his countryman Coulthard as the new team, which scored a point on their debut in Australia, continued to out-perform their expectations.

Ralf Schumacher, in the second Williams-BMW, finished fourth ahead of fifth-placed Michael Schumacher, who was the fastest Bridgestone runner but spun once as he continued to work hard on setting up the new F2002 car for the gruelling Interlagos circuit.

McLaren new boy Kimi Raikkonen, from Finland, finished sixth, one place ahead of home hope Rubens Barrichello, who continued to struggle on his local circuit and finished 0.3 seconds slower than his teammate Schumacher in the old Ferrari.

Briton Jenson Button continued to impress with eighth fastest time, but his Renault teammate Jarno Trulli had to sit out most of the session after he made a mistake with the car's launch control system.

Jacques Villeneuve finished ninth for British American Racing and Pedro de la Rosa was tenth to give his Jaguar team a bit of hope after a difficult start to the season.

Jordan new boy Takuma Sato continued to struggle to cope with the bumpy circuit as he spun at turn eight and eventually finished 19th, and Olivier Panis also spun during the session.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:15.075 206.625 km/h 2. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:15.345 + 0.270 3. McNish Toyota (M) 1:15.450 + 0.375 4. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:15.477 + 0.402 5. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:15.627 + 0.552 6. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:15.883 + 0.808 7. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:15.933 + 0.858 8. Button Renault (M) 1:16.054 + 0.979 9. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:16.183 + 1.108 10. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:16.289 + 1.214 11. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:16.375 + 1.300 12. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:16.379 + 1.304 13. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:16.391 + 1.316 14. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:16.424 + 1.349 15. Salo Toyota (M) 1:16.529 + 1.454 16. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:16.539 + 1.464 17. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:16.548 + 1.473 18. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:16.573 + 1.498 19. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:17.624 + 2.549 20. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:17.714 + 2.639 21. Trulli Renault (M) 1:17.979 + 2.904 22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:18.426 + 3.351 All Timing Unofficial