Practice 2: Barrichello on top

Most of the drivers were clearly trying harder in the second session, having spent this morning learning the circuit. Seven drivers eclipsed Michael Schumacher's
earlier benchmark this afternoon while several cars had offs, including the reigning World Champion.

Barrichello too was trying hard, and ran wide into the dust late in the session. But it was a scintillating middle sector with 15 minutes of the session remaining, which sealed Barrichello's place at the top of the timesheets. JPM was unlucky not to be fastest himself, as his best time was set on the same lap as Barrichello.

Third was BAR tester Anthony Davidson, who once again impressed hugely - his quickest time was a mere 0.038s slower than Barrichello. Schumacher was the first to better his first session time, ending up fourth as Ferrari tried out different tyre compounds.

But it was Jaguar new boy Christian Klien who was the surprise of the session. Having languished in 21st this morning, the Austrian stunned the field by going fifth with a time almost five seconds quicker than his first session effort. Team-mate Mark Webber improved too, finishing eighth, just outside the 1m31s bracket.

Williams also had a much better time of it in session two, with Ralf Schumacher on top early in the session and improving to join his brother in the 1m31s time bracket. With JPM just a whisker away from topping the timesheets, the team had a far more encouraging afternoon.

BAR's Jenson Button continued his momentum again, running consistently in the top six, and improving steadily throughout the session, running as high as second early on. He was the last of the drivers to break the 1m32s barrier. Team-mate Takuma Sato improved too, going some two seconds quicker than he had this morning.

Renault driver Fernando Alonso took a step forward, also improving by more than two seconds but he was denied the chance to go quicker by a right-rear puncture, which caused the tyre to part company from its rim.

Fellow Michelin runners Davidson and McLaren's David Coulthard also picked up punctures, Coulthard's at speed, while Alonso's team-mate Jarno Trulli compounded Renault's difficult second session by being one of three cars to stop on the track with technical difficulties.

Coulthard's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen stopped on his first lap out of the pits, and Nick Heidfeld was the third driver to stop, parking his Jordan early in the session. The number of cars to stop equals the highest attrition rate for a practice session so far this season as F1 feels the effects of a brand new environment for the sport.

Other performances of note included Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta, who once again out-performed his team's two race drivers to set the 10th quickest time, and Jordan new boy Giorgio Pantano, who moved up the grid to 13th.

At Sauber, Felipe Massa played second fiddle to his more experienced team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella for most of the session but, despite a spin, a late quick lap meant he again finished above the Italian.