Saturday Second Free Practice - Italian GP

Michael Schumacher delighted Ferrari's passionate Tifosi crowd by ending the second Saturday practice session on a drying Monza circuit on top of the times to complete his preparation for the afternoon qualifying session.

Having sat out the earlier session, Schumacher came out on track late in the morning but it did not stop him exerting his dominance and showing the Williams team who is boss. Juan Pablo Montoya made a late dash to claim second place, however, to indicate that qualifying should see Ferrari and Williams vying for top spot.

Jordan's Italian driver Jarno Trulli also made an impressive late run to push Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari further down the field into fourth, just ahead of rival David Coulthard who claimed fifth.

Younger Schumacher Ralf could manage only the sixth fastest time, Sauber drivers Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen claimed seventh and tenth respectively, with Mika Hakkinen and Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa filling out the rest of the top ten.

Jean Alesi was a surprise at the top of the timesheets 15 minutes into the session, but almost immediately Montoya beat his time by half a second and things got worse as a problem in Alesi's Jordan forced him to coast back to the pits towards the end of the session.

Tomas Enge had a spin in the Prost as he continued to get to grips with Formula One machinery, but he was able to recover and continue on his way.

With improving conditions, Rubens Barrichello shot to the top of the times by blitzing Montoya's time by more than eight tenths of a second, but as the times continued to fall, it would be the other Ferrari which would end the morning on top.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:23.178 250.725 km/h 2. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:23.477 + 0.299 3. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 1:23.762 + 0.584 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:23.828 + 0.650 5. Coulthard Mclaren Mercedes (B) 1:23.873 + 0.695 6. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:23.917 + 0.739 7. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:24.251 + 1.073 8. Hakkinen Mclaren Mercedes (B) 1:24.263 + 1.085 9. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:24.575 + 1.397 10. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:24.586 + 1.408 11. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:24.642 + 1.464 12. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 1:24.683 + 1.505 13. Alesi Jordan Honda (B) 1:24.928 + 1.750 14. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:24.990 + 1.812 15. Button Benetton Renault (M) 1:25.062 + 1.884 16. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:25.258 + 2.080 17. Frentzen Prost Acer (M) 1:25.600 + 2.422 18. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:26.285 + 3.107 19. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:27.309 + 4.131 20. Enge Prost Acer (M) 1:28.064 + 4.886 21. Yoong Minardi European (M) No Time 22. Alonso Minardi European (M) No Time All Timing Unofficial