Saturday Second Free Practice

Williams-BMW duo Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf opened a window of hope for the Ferrari-chasing F1 field by splitting the two Italian cars after Saturday morning's two short free practice sessions at Albert Park.

In cooler, overcast conditions it was still Michael Schumacher who topped the time sheets with a best lap of 1:25.093, just over three-tenths slower than his sensational record-breaking Friday time of 1:24.718.

But for the first time in this new Grand Prix season it was not Rubens Barrichello who was Schumacher's closest pursuer, as Montoya recovered from a lurid moment over the kerbs at the high-speed Turn 12 to post a 1:25.255 with 12 minutes of the session still to run.

Turn 12 claimed a number of illustrious victims: Kimi Raikkonen caught his McLaren-Mercedes superbly as it ran widest of all, but Jaguar's Mark Webber and Jordan's Nick Heidfeld also had to summon up their car control skills to get back on track through the quick right-hander.

Schumacher's Ferrari had its own awkward moments, the German first gesticulating at Cristiano da Matta as he overtook the Toyota on a hot lap, then getting ragged through Turns 1 and 2 and taking to the grass as he tried - and failed - to go even faster in the dying moments of the session.

Da Matta's teammate Olivier Panis, the oldest man in the 2004 field, drew attention to himself for better reasons as his TF104 leapt up to sixth place, paring almost two full seconds off the Frenchman's fastest Friday lap.

With Jenson Button's BAR-Honda unable to break into the top 10 this morning, it was veteran David Coulthard who took the British honours - but even David Coulthard's McLaren could do no better than 10th with a best lap of 1:26.133, 1.040 seconds off Schumacher's pace.

Renault duo Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli again caught the eye, the 72-degree, taller engine causing none of the forecast problems as they claimed fifth and seventh spots respectively.

Between them in eighth was the Jaguar of local favourite Mark Webber, over a second quicker than rookie teammate Christian Klien, who in turn was the fastest of the four F1 newcomers on view this weekend.

As they head into the new-look qualifying session this afternoon it's worth remembering that the animals have always gone in two-by-two at Albert Park: Williams monopolised the front row in 1996 and 1997, McLaren from 1998 to 2000, and Ferrari have done the same for the last three years.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:25.093 224.352 km/h 13 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:25.255 + 0.162 9 3. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:25.628 + 0.535 9 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:25.649 + 0.556 12 5. Alonso Renault (M) 1:25.908 + 0.815 11 6. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:25.916 + 0.823 14 7. Trulli Renault (M) 1:25.927 + 0.834 9 8. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:26.066 + 0.973 11 9. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:26.127 + 1.034 8 10. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:26.133 + 1.040 11 11. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:26.403 + 1.310 14 12. Panis Toyota (M) 1:26.597 + 1.504 17 13. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:27.088 + 1.995 14 14. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:27.172 + 2.079 13 15. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:27.195 + 2.102 12 16. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:27.592 + 2.499 9 17. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:27.755 + 2.662 14 18. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:28.825 + 3.732 12 19. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:30.496 + 5.403 16 20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:31.763 + 6.670 13 All timing unofficial