Raikkonen Fastest in Practice 4

Raikkonen, who needs to win this weekend, finished with a time of 1:11.929 to beat Alonso, who currently has a 25-point lead in the title race, to the top spot by just 0.181 seconds.

The uneventful session ran without a incident as temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius and overcast skies continued to prevent drivers setting faster times than were seen on Friday morning.

Jenson Button, who has the benefit of an improved car here, finished a satisfying third fastest as he mixed it with the McLarens and Renaults with the hope of doing so again in the race itself.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya finished fourth and fifth respectively while Ferrari pair Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher managed a satisfying sixth and seventh.

Barrichello has started from pole in both of the last two races and with Juan Pablo Montoya claiming the front spot three years ago there has not been a non-South American pole sitter since Michael Schumacher in 2001.

Ralf Schumacher finished eighth for Toyota with Antonio Pizzonia ninth for Williams, much faster than his Australian teammate Mark Webber, who ended the session last but one, and Felipe Massa's Sauber completing the top ten.

The session began busily and with 15 minutes gone the two McLarens of Montoya and Raikkonen were on top with the two Renaults of Alonso and Fisichella third and fourth.

Raikkonen moved to the front then Alonso moved to second before being bumped down by Button with ten minutes of the session remaining and while Alonso jumped back up he could touch the fin out front.

Pos  Driver         Team                  Time                  Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:11.929               11
 2.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:12.110  +    0.181   13
 3.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:12.148  +    0.219   14
 4.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:12.158  +    0.229   13
 5.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:12.292  +    0.363   11
 6.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:12.382  +    0.453   10
 7.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:12.453  +    0.524   15
 8.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:12.509  +    0.580   18
 9.  Pizzonia      Williams-BMW      (M)  1:12.752  +    0.823   10
10.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:12.799  +    0.870   11
11.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:12.811  +    0.882   12
12.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:13.199  +    1.270   14
13.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:13.222  +    1.293   14
14.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:13.242  +    1.313    8
15.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:13.305  +    1.376   18
16.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:13.508  +    1.579   16
17.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:13.817  +    1.888    5
18.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:14.012  +    2.083   16
19.  Webber        Williams-BMW      (M)  1:14.114  +    2.185    9
20.  Doornbos      Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:14.595  +    2.666   17

All timing unofficial