Saturday Second Free Practice - Malaysian GP

Colombian Juan-Pablo Montoya soared to the top of the time-sheets in his Williams-BMW in Saturday morning's final free practice session for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, leaving hot favourite Michael Schumacher languishing in sixth place behind Briton David Coulthard.

Montoya finished less than one-tenth of a second ahead of second-placed Finn Kimi Raikkonen, in a McLaren-Mercedes-Benz. His Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher was third. Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was the quickest Ferrari driver and claimed fourth ahead of Coulthard, who finished his session 15 minutes early after spinning at turn 14 where his right wheels touched the grass on the inside.

Coulthard ended up in a gravel trap and had to abandon his car, as he had on Friday morning when he was forced to push it back to the garage after an exhaust problem had started a fire.

Quadruple World Champion Schumacher, who has taken pole at all three previous Malaysian Grands Prix, contented himself with fine-tuning ahead of the afternoon qualifying session and finished four-tenths slower than Montoya. The German completed only 14 laps, however, compared to Montoya who did 24. Moreover, both Ferrari drivers ran on used tyres whereas Montoya used two new sets of tyres during practice today. This may give the Italian team a tyres advantage for the race.

German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, in an Arrows, failed to complete a flying lap in the first session after an oil leak problem forced him to remain in the garage and a fire late in the second session prevented him from improving on his 13th fastest time.

His compatriot Nick Heidfeld spun his Sauber at turn 14 early in the second session while Barrichello also had a brief 'off' at turn nine. Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, in a BAR Honda, and Alex Yoong, in a Minardi, also spun during the session, but both were able to continue and complete their laps.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:36.556 206.666 km/h 2. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:36.648 + 0.092 3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:36.689 + 0.133 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:36.910 + 0.354 5. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:36.976 + 0.420 6. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:37.045 + 0.489 7. Button Renault (M) 1:37.609 + 1.053 8. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:38.215 + 1.659 9. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:38.301 + 1.745 10. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:38.320 + 1.764 11. Salo Toyota (M) 1:38.366 + 1.810 12. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:38.478 + 1.922 13. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:38.613 + 2.057 14. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:38.734 + 2.178 15. Trulli Renault (M) 1:38.796 + 2.240 16. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:39.116 + 2.560 17. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:39.319 + 2.763 18. McNish Toyota (M) 1:39.349 + 2.793 19. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:39.442 + 2.886 20. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:39.490 + 2.934 21. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:40.060 + 3.504 22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:40.656 + 4.100 All Timing Unofficial