Friday Second Free Practice

Briton Anthony Davidson claimed top spot for BAR-Honda in the second practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday with the fastest ever time around the new Shanghai International Circuit.

Test driver Davidson, driving the team's blue liveried car, set a time of 1:33.289 with a late lap that bettered second-placed teammate Jenson Button, who finished third at the last race in Italy, by some 0.885 seconds.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen and Scot David Coulthard finished third and fourth fastest in the two McLaren-Mercedes cars but were forced to run fewer laps than their rivals during the day to conserve their engines for the weekend.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello finished fifth fastest in the lead Ferrari but his World Champion teammate Michael Schumacher ended up down in eighth place, one spot behind his brother Ralf, who is returning from injury for Williams-BMW.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella finished sixth for Sauber while Toyota pair Ricardo Zonta, of Brazil, and Olivier Panis, of France, completed the top ten runners in ninth and tenth respectively.

The session ran in temperatures of 27 degrees and Button sat on top of the timesheets at the halfway mark in the session with a time of 1:34.767, which bettered the previous fastest time set by Davidson in the morning session.

Davidson suffered an off at turn seven just five minutes into the session and Zonta went wide at turn 11 two minutes later before Takuma Sato stopped at turn 16 when the engine in his BAR-Honda expired.

Turn 16 caused a problem for several drivers with Montoya, German Jordan driver Nick Heidfeld and Spaniard Fernando Alonso, of Renault, all having off-track moments at that corner during the session.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve had a trip off track at turn two seven minutes from the end of the session and Montoya quickly followed him with a mistake in the same place that caused him to spin.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:33.289 2. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:34.174 + 0.885 3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.289 + 1.000 4. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.362 + 1.073 5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:34.448 + 1.159 6. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:34.680 + 1.391 7. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:34.714 + 1.425 8. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:34.776 + 1.487 9. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:34.868 + 1.579 10. Panis Toyota (M) 1:34.870 + 1.581 11. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:34.881 + 1.592 12. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:34.959 + 1.670 13. Alonso Renault (M) 1:35.514 + 2.225 14. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:35.646 + 2.357 15. Villeneuve Renault (M) 1:35.851 + 2.562 16. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:35.886 + 2.597 17. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:36.363 + 3.074 18. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:36.630 + 3.341 19. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:37.076 + 3.787 20. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:37.111 + 3.822 21. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:37.431 + 4.142 22. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:37.728 + 4.439 23. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:38.522 + 5.233 24. Doornbos Jordan-Ford (B) 1:39.051 + 5.762 25. Sato BAR-Honda (M) No Time All timing unofficial