Practice Session 2: Barrichello still quickest

Last year's pole time of Mika Hakkinen at 1m30.556s was roundly blitzed by the leading runners, thanks mainly to the tyre war between Bridgestone and Michelin. Barrichello lapped the 3.303-mile Albert Park circuit in 1m28.965s, underlining his pace from the first session of the day which he also topped.

The surprise of the day was Jordan-Honda's Jarno Trulli, who delighted team boss Eddie Jordan with the second fastest time of the day, just three-tenths slower than Barrichello's best. Once again, the Italian's hot lap was almost ignored due to Schumacher's double somersault (for full story, click here) as he set it on exactly the same tour as the reigning champion was giving his impromptu aerobatic display.

Just to prove that everyone was trying their hardest on the opening day of season, McLaren's Hakkinen suffered a gravelly off during the second session as he struggled to keep up with the pace. The Finn had to settle for fifth place, behind Barrichello, Trulli, Schumacher and team mate David Coulthard.

The top Michelin-shod car was Ralf Schumacher's Williams-BMW in sixth who, along with ninth-placed Jean Alesi (Prost-Acer), was a rare interloper in a Bridgestone-dominated top ten. Nick Heidfeld was also on top form for Sauber-Petronas, recording the seventh fastest time ahead of Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Olivier Panis rounded out the top ten, although his British American Racing team must be disappointed to be upstaged by fellow Honda-powered rivals Jordan so early in the season. Jacques Villeneuve at least got some track time in session two, after a problematic first period, and wound up 12th fastest, the BAR duo sandwiching Sauber's rookie Kimi Raikkonen.

The session was punctuated by a red flag after 35 minutes when Jaguar's Luciano Burti spun into the wall at the first corner. The Brazilian locked up going into the right-hand element of the chicane, clipped the grass and spun into the concrete barrier on the exit of the corner, damaging the left-front corner of his R2. He was uninjured.

Also having a bad day at the office was Benetton's Jenson Button, who had the misfortune to chalk up Michelin's first puncture of the season when his right-rear deflated. The young Englishman was able to coast back to the pits and resumed running with minimal delay, although he wound up 21st of the 22 entrants. At least this time his team mate Giancarlo Fisichella (16th) was able to outpace the Minardi-European of Fernando Alonso, albeit by just 0.112secs...

Alonso's colleague Tarso Marques didn't quite fare so well, as a spectacular engine failure ended his day early, and the Brazilian - who hadn't driven the car until today - needs to find over a second if he's going to make the cut in qualifying on Saturday due to the 107 per cent rule.

Other disappointments included Jos Verstappen (Arrows-Asiatech), who was unable to recapture his form from the first session and finished 14th, one spot ahead of Colombian rookie Juan Pablo Montoya, who was 1.5secs slower than Williams team mate Ralf Schumacher.

For the full practice session 2 results click here.