Practice 2: Barrichello on top

Although the Ferrari duo appeared to be struggling for pace in first practice, the pair clearly got things together for the afternoon session as they were relatively untroubled at the top of the timesheets.

Barrichello set his best lap of one minute 11.166 seconds with just 10 minutes of the session remaining to knock team-mate Schumacher off the top spot as the pair worked through their preparations for Sunday's race. The two drivers were separated by 0.168 seconds at the end, although Schumacher was caught out by traffic in the closing minutes of the session as he put in his quick laps.

Raikkonen, who had a spin early in the session at the tight Larinja right hander after putting his left wheels on the kerbs, set his best lap right at the end of the session but he was 0.360 seconds slower than Barrichello. The Finn's team-mate David Coulthard was 15th fastest.

Jenson Button had looked set for an ultra-strong result after topping the times during the middle section of the session, but he slipped down the order in the closing minutes to end the day fourth overall. It was still an encouraging performance for his BAR team as it chases second place in the constructors' championship this weekend - especially with Anthony Davidson fifth fastest in his radical liveried car and Takuma Sato sixth.

BAR only needs to score three points this weekend to clinch the runners-up spot in the title chase behind Ferrari - something that is looking increasingly likely, especially with rivals Renault struggling again. The French manufacturer needs at least a 1-3 finish to beat BAR to the second spot, but Fernando Alonso could manage no better than seventh, while Jacques Villeneuve was 12th.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who had been quickest in the morning session, appeared to have joined Williams team-mate Ralf Schumacher in concentrating on race preparations during the second session as they ended up at the bottom end of the top 10. Schumacher was 10th overall, with Montoya 11th.

The tricky track surface continued to catch out a few drivers, but there were no major incidents. Apart from Raikkonen's moment, Ricardo Zonta had his second spin of the day in the Toyota. Christian Klien also ran wide at the first corner but kept it together to avoid spinning.