Practice 2: Raikkonen rebounds

The session had looked set to be a Ferrari benefit, with the red machines occupying the top positions for most of the session, but the McLaren ace put in an impressive 1m22.263s laps with four minutes remaining to claim top honours.

Rubens Barrichello had the edge over team-mate Michael Schumacher and ended the session with the second fastest time, 0.134s back from Raikkonen. Schumacher did, however, earn the honour of being the busiest driver, completing 21 laps in the 45 minutes.

Juan Pablo Montoya put in the fourth fastest time and was over half a second faster than his team-mate Ralf Schumacher, back in seventh. Fernando Alonso was fifth quickest, ahead of Jacques Villeneuve, whose session ended five minutes early when his engine blew coming out of Copse corner, which then pitched him into a spin.

Jarno Trulli was eighth, ahead of local favourite David Coulthard, and Jaguar's Mark Webber. Jenson Button was 11th in his BAR.

The fortunes of the two British rookies improved somewhat after their tribulations yesterday. Ralph Firman outpaced illustrious team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella by 0.694s, although his efforts still only netted him the 17th fastest time overall.

After his car failed exiting the pit lane on his qualifying run yesterday, and a host of problems through the morning practice session, Justin Wilson finally ran trouble-free throughout a session, outpacing his team-mate Jos Verstappen in the process.