Hakkinen quickest in second Saturday practice

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello also drew a quick time in the dying moments of the session to go second quickest, overtaking his team mate Michael Schumacher and Coulthard.

Coulthard had started the second session this morning as he had ended the first - fastest. Despite some moments where the McLaren looked distinctly twitchy, he eclipsed his time from the morning to dip under 1m15s.

It looked as though this state of affairs would remain when Jenson Button's BMW engine failed, leaking oil onto the circuit. For some considerable time afterwards, the oil on the track at the second hairpin denied anyone a faster lap.

Mika Salo walked away from a frightening incident late in the session when the rear wing of his Sauber Petronas broke on the pit straight, launching him into a spin at the Senna 'S'. The Finn was unharmed, but his car was heavily damaged.

By this time, the track had been cleaned sufficiently for fast times to be set once more, and Michael Schumacher was the first to answer Coulthard with a lap in the region of 1m15.5s.

Jarno Trulli briefly popped up in the top three. The Italian has been having an impressive weekend for Jordan, matching and even beating his highly rated team mate Heinz Harald Frentzen.

He was, however, swiftly bumped down the order first by Hakkinen and then by Barrichello. Trulli ended up 5th, followed by the increasingly quick Benetton of Fisichella who rounded out the top six.

The session bodes well for an exiting qualifying, as neither McLaren driver looks to have the edge over the other, and the same can be said of the Ferrari drivers.