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Saturday Second Free Practice - Italian GP

Rubens Barrichello finished fastest for Ferrari in Saturday's final practice session before qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix but his teammate Michael Schumacher struggled to show his usual form and finished well down the field.

Rubens Barrichello finished fastest for Ferrari in Saturday's final practice session before qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix but his teammate Michael Schumacher struggled to show his usual form and finished well down the field.

Barrichello, who last started from pole position at the United States Grand Prix in June, set a fastest lap of 1:20.553 to put himself on top of the pile but his effort was still not as fast as Schumacher's opening-session run on Friday.

The Brazilian driver, who had a brief spin at the Rettifilio during the session, finished 0.098 seconds faster than second-placed Juan Pablo Montoya, of Williams-BMW, but just 0.503 seconds covered the top nine drivers.

Briton Jenson Button, of BAR-Honda, finished third fastest with Japanese team-mate Takuma Sato fifth as Renault driver Fernando Alonso, of Spain, split the BAR-Honda pair in fourth.

McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen, who won the last race in Belgium, finished sixth to push world champion Schumacher down to an unusual seventh place in the second Ferrari.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia finished 0.366 seconds off the pace of his Williams team-mate in eighth place with Scot David Coulthard ninth for McLaren after a spin and Italian Jarno Trulli completing the top ten in his Renault.

Italian Giorgio Pantano and Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner were lucky to escape harm in a heavy collision after Pantano's Jordan was pitched into a spin heading into the Rettifilio chicane nine minutes into the session.

The out-of-control Jordan machine clattered into Baumgartner's Minardi, scattering debris over the track, but marshals were able to move them away from their resting places without the session being stopped.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:20.555 11 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.653 + 0.098 11 3. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:20.734 + 0.179 13 4. Alonso Renault (M) 1:20.773 + 0.218 11 5. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:20.805 + 0.250 11 6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:20.856 + 0.301 11 7. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:20.898 + 0.343 10 8. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.921 + 0.366 10 9. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:21.058 + 0.503 11 10. Trulli Renault (M) 1:21.506 + 0.951 8 11. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:21.859 + 1.304 14 12. Panis Toyota (M) 1:21.889 + 1.334 18 13. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:21.929 + 1.374 9 14. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:22.114 + 1.559 20 15. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.230 + 1.675 18 16. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.490 + 1.935 15 17. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:23.146 + 2.591 13 18. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:23.794 + 3.239 14 19. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) No Time 2 20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) No Time 2 All timing unofficial

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