Saturday Second Free Practice - Bahrain GP

Jenson Button stayed ahead in Saturday's final practice for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, as he set the fastest ever time around the new Bahrain International Circuit once again.

Briton Button, who topped the first morning session, lowered the benchmark to 1:29.552 as BAR-Honda set the pace while Ferrari, who had dominated Friday practice on Bridgestone tyres, slipped further down the timesheets.

World Champion Michael Schumacher finished fifth fastest, 0.855 seconds off Button's pace, and Rubens Barrichello was 0.961 seconds slower than the BAR driver in eighth spot.

Ambient temperatures of 32 degrees Celsius and track temperatures of 46 seemed to suit the Michelin tyres as Button led second-placed German Williams-BMW driver Ralf Schumacher by 0.138 seconds

Juan Pablo Montoya, in the second Williams, finished third with Japan's Takuma Sato proving Button's performance was no fluke by setting the fourth fastest time 0.687 seconds behind his teammate in the second BAR.

Italian Jarno Trulli and Spaniard Fernando Alonso finished sixth and ninth fastest for Renault with Toyota's pair of Brazilian Cristano da Matta and Frenchman Olivier Panis seventh and tenth respectively.

The start of the session was delayed by five minutes after race organisers were forced to inspect and repair one of the kerbs that caused several tyre failures during Friday practice after it proved to be causing trouble again.

McLaren's gremlins immediately hit again when Finn Kimi Raikkonen ground to a halt as he attempted to drive out the pitlane for his first run of the session and had to be pushed back to his garage by his mechanics.

Several top drivers went off the track as they continued to explore its limits with Michael Schumacher slipping up at turn 11, Montoya off at turn eight and Alonso sliding off twice at turns three and 15.

Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner got his Minardi stuck in the gravel after 30 minutes of the 45-minute session and soon after Austrian Christian Klien had a spectacular spin at turn 10 but recovered to return to the track.

With 10 minutes to go Raikkonen and teammate David Coulthard, who had spun out in the first session, sat at the bottom of the timesheets in 19th and 20th but both came out just before the end of the session.

Raikkonen went off twice as he explored the limits of the track and could only manage the 11th fastest time of the day while Coulthard could not get out before the chequered flag and failed to set a time.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:29.552 14 2. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:29.690 + 0.138 9 3. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:29.696 + 0.144 13 4. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:30.239 + 0.687 19 5. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:30.407 + 0.855 11 6. Trulli Renault (M) 1:30.472 + 0.920 10 7. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:30.499 + 0.947 12 8. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:30.513 + 0.961 11 9. Alonso Renault (M) 1:30.774 + 1.222 12 10. Panis Toyota (M) 1:30.934 + 1.382 13 11. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:31.320 + 1.768 9 12. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:31.331 + 1.779 12 13. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:31.384 + 1.832 12 14. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:32.433 + 2.881 11 15. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:32.557 + 3.005 12 16. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:32.816 + 3.264 12 17. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:33.342 + 3.790 7 18. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:34.590 + 5.038 11 19. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:35.901 + 6.349 7 20. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) No Time 4 All timing unofficial