Practice 3: Coulthard fastest for McLaren

The Scot ended the second session with a best lap of 1m14.747s, fully 0.351s clear of the next fastest driver.

The session was interrupted by BAR driver Jenson Button having a massive accident at the harbourfront chicane (see separate story), with Coulthard deposing his team-mate from the top of the timesheets on the session's resumption. Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya broke up the McLaren domination by lapping in 1m15.098s.

With 10 minutes to go, Michael Schumacher was languishing eighth fastest, more than a second away from Coulthard's best, but then the Ferrari driver got going and went third fastest, with a best lap of 1m15.255s, deposing his brother Ralf who also vaulted up the order.

Jarno Trulli was fifth fastest for Renault, a fraction of a second faster than Raikkonen, with Rubens Barrichello and Jaguar's Martk Webber hot on his heels. There was then a gap of 0.4s before Giancarlo Fischella's ninth best time for Jordan, with a further half second gap back to 10th placed Jacques Villeneuve, with Button - seventh at the time of his crash - falling to 11th overall.