Practice 4: Jenson yet again

The cars dipped into the 1m29s bracket for the first time this weekend, with Ralf Schumacher the first to do so halfway through the session. Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya then virtually matched his time, just 0.006s slower, but then Button crashed the Williams party, outpacing them by well over a tenth of a second. Takuma Sato showed BAR's performance was no fluke by setting the fourth fastest time.

"Things are looking good," said Button. "The team has really improved a lot this year, and you're starting to see the results. The whole team has stepped up to another level, but we're feeling very relaxed about it. I know Ferrari are going to be there in qualifying, but as long as we're near the front we'll be happy."

Team principal David Richards said: "It's only testing, we've got the important business of qualifying and race still to come. But we're working within the right framework, and it's very positive that we're able to challenge for the fastest time. We're making good progress now."

At the other end of the happiness scale, there was more woe for McLaren when Kimi Raikkonen appeared to lose drive at the end of the pit lane, prompting him to be pushed embarrassingly all the way back to his pit. He rejoined the session later, but suffered a number of dusty excursions that smacked of over-driving. Team-mate David Coulthard only completed a token lap in the dying moments of the session following his earlier puncture-inspired drama. Raikkonen ended the session 11th, DC failed to record a time.

Ferrari had another quiet session, Michael Schumacher placing fifth despite yet another dusty off. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello was eighth, with the improving Jarno Trulli (Renault) and Cristiano da Matta (Toyota) between them.

Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Olivier Panis (Toyota) kept the symmetry going in ninth and 10th, while Christian Klien outpaced Jaguar team-mate Mark Webber once again, but also suffered his now customary spin.

Giancarlo Fisichella was 14th for Sauber, despite a huge spin at the final corner during which he almost wiped out a passing Toyota. Team-mate Felipe Massa was next up, ahead of the predictable tailenders in the usual order: Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano (both Jordan) followed by Gimmi Bruni and Zsolt Baumgartner (Minardi), although the latter spun off and beached his car.

In between the sessions, FIA race director Charlie Whiting was spotted directing a spot of trackside kerb modification - no doubt after a complaint from one of the teams. There were no punctures to report in this session.