Saturday Second Free Practice - Australian GP

Jarno Trulli underlined the potential of the Renault team this year and the value of taking part in Friday's early morning 'test' session when he topped the times ahead of Briton Jenson Button's BAR-Honda in the second part of Saturday morning's free practice session.

On a cool and cloudy morning following heavy overnight rain storms, and on a circuit left stewn with dirt and dust, the Italian demonstrated that he and his team can deliver the right performance with a late lap that pushed Button off the top of the time-sheets in the closing seconds.

Earlier, Briton Button had showed that his fifth-place finish in Friday's opening new-look qualifying session was no fluke with a bold display of aggressive driving in the promising BAR-Honda.

He wound up with a second best time of 1:27.415 behind Trulli's top time of 1:26.928, this pair finishing ahead of Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the second Renault, five-times World Champion German Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, and sixth-placed Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in his Williams-BMW.

It was an intriguing and incident-filled session, with Michael Schumacher, who had three off-circuit excursions during the morning, clearly struggling to come to terms with the conditions. He and Finn Kimi Raikkonen both endured heavy accidents in the first part of the session, their cars both suffering damage to the front left wheels. Schumacher's car lost its front wing.

The temperature was only 17 degrees Celsius, however, compared to 25 degrees during Friday's session and on a dirtier surface with most teams experimenting with fuel loads and settings in advance of Saturday's 'shootout' one lap qualifying session it was difficult to draw any real conclusions.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Trulli Renault (M) 1:26.928 219.616 km/h 22 2. Button BAR Honda (B) 1:27.415 + 0.487 29 3. Alonso Renault (M) 1:27.424 + 0.496 28 4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:27.517 + 0.589 21 5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:27.558 + 0.630 27 6. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:27.700 + 0.772 30 7. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:27.814 + 0.886 29 8. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:28.049 + 1.121 17 9. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:28.090 + 1.162 18 10. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:28.177 + 1.249 23 11. Panis Toyota (M) 1:28.360 + 1.432 28 12. Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:28.421 + 1.493 26 13. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:28.509 + 1.581 16 14. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:28.564 + 1.636 10 15. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:28.590 + 1.662 28 16. Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 1:28.619 + 1.691 27 17. Firman Jordan Ford (B) 1:29.814 + 2.886 25 18. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:30.551 + 3.623 10 19. Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:30.857 + 3.929 20 20. Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:31.066 + 4.138 18 All Timing Unofficial