Saturday Second Free Practice - British GP

The rain continued to pour down on the Silverstone circuit to leave most drivers unable to improve on their times in the final practice session before Saturday's qualifying hour.

There was limited action on the track as the extra rain which fell between the sessions made the lap times more than four seconds slower, but teams did put in important testing to develop setups for wet conditions.

Just two minutes into the session European Minardi's Tarso Marques had a fast spin at the Abbey chicane, ended up facing backwards in the gravel, and left his stranded car to head back to the pits.

Kimi Raikkonen was lucky to miss a hare which ran across the track, and the Finn had to take avoiding action to save the little animal.

Jenson Button spun trying to make it around Stowe corner, but he was able to continue and return to the pits, while Nick Heidfeld made three full rotations as he spun exiting Bridge corner and took out a sign-board in the process.

Jacques Villeneuve's dismal day continued as he spun backwards into the gravel after posting the 15th fastest lap. This time as he headed onto Hangar Straight, and he was once again left with a wet walk back to the pits.

Luciano Burti also struggled with the conditions as he spun at Brooklands, and Raikkonen went off on his own in the fast Maggots/Becketts section of the track.

Eddie Irvine completed no laps for Jaguar in the second session, and Heidfeld stopped just before the pit lane at the end of the session.

The teams also took the chance to practice their launch control starts once again, with no problems for any of the cars, including the Benettons, which are running the system for the first time at Silverstone.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:31.430 202.424 km/h 2. Frentzen Jordan Honda (B) 1:31.803 + 0.373 3. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:31.849 + 0.419 4. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:32.014 + 0.584 5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:32.128 + 0.698 6. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:33.837 + 2.407 7. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 1:33.879 + 2.449 8. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:34.069 + 2.639 9. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:34.097 + 2.667 10. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:34.248 + 2.818 11. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:34.674 + 3.244 12. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:35.157 + 3.727 13. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:35.173 + 3.743 14. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:35.402 + 3.972 15. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 1:35.624 + 4.194 16. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:35.690 + 4.260 17. Button Benetton Renault (M) 1:35.974 + 4.544 18. Alesi Prost Acer (M) 1:36.193 + 4.763 19. Burti Prost Acer (M) 1:37.203 + 5.773 20. Alonso Minardi European (M) 1:38.748 + 7.318 21. Marques Minardi European (M) 1:40.199 + 8.769 22. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:43.227 + 11.797 All Timing Unofficial