Practice 4: Renault dominates

Schumacher stated his intent early on, producing two laps in the mid-1m13s bracket that were easily the fastest of the weekend so far. Alonso then lowered the bar with a sublime 1m12.901, but even that wasn't enough to hold top spot as Trulli, bouncing back from steering problems yesterday, produced a 1m12.833s just moments later.

Right at the end of the session, Trulli managed a 1m12.629s to put the issue beyond doubt, although Alonso did manage to better him by the second split but lost out in the final sector to stay second fastest.

"It's okay," said Renault chief Flavio Briatore. "The car is fast and the drivers are happy. It's a good start."

Jenson Button's weekend is finally coming together, the Briton setting the third fastest time at 1m13.026s. BAR team-mate Takuma Sato impressed once again with the fourth fastest time despite missing half of the session due to an adjustment that required the engine to be removed after hitting trouble in this morning's practice.

Juan Pablo Montoya was fifth fastest as Williams-BMW finally began to show some form, although he had a scary moment when the rear of his FW26 snapped out under braking for the final chicane.

M Schumacher ended the session down in sixth, while team-mate Rubens Barrichello has been forced to swap to the spare car after an off this morning damaged the chassis of his racecar. He was ninth fastest, and suffered another grassy off at Turn 8 to boot.

The McLarens of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard were seventh and eighth, while Jaguar's Christian Klien popped into the top 10 after an excellent lap in his R5. Ralf Schumacher was down in 12th for Williams, while newboy Timo Glock continues to be about half a second off the pace of Jordan team-mate Nick Heidfeld.