Saturday Second Free Practice - Spanish GP

Michael Schumacher stamped his authority at the Circuit de Catalunya as he dominated Saturday's practice sessions and set himself up for a return to the top of the grid in qualifying.

The Ferrari driver posted a quickest of lap time of 1:18.634 seconds in the opening session and was unable to better the mark in the second practice.

He was marginally quicker than teammate Rubens Barrichello, who produced a late lap to better McLaren driver David Coulthard, who had an excursion onto the gravel.

Sauber's impressive opening to the season continued with rookie Kimi Raikkonen ending fourth in the timesheets with his teammate Nick Heidfeld behind in fifth.

Jordan's Jarno Trulli was sixth with BAR's Olivier Panis seventh, ahead of McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, who was unable to improve on the time that left him second in the opening session.

San Marino Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher struggled as he was ninth quickest in his Michelin-shod Williams and the Jaguar's of Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa also failed to make their mark.

Irvine ended 17th, while De la Rosa was 21st after his car mysteriously veered off to the right and crashed into a wall. He was unhurt in the incident.

Minardi's Tarso Marques remains outside of the 107% time and will fail to qualify unless he improves in qualifying.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:18.634 216.548 km/h 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:18.674 + 0.040 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:18.686 + 0.052 4. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:18.765 + 0.131 5. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:19.010 + 0.376 6. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 1:19.186 + 0.552 7. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:19.253 + 0.619 8. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:19.281 + 0.647 9. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:19.406 + 0.772 10. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:19.577 + 0.943 11. Frentzen Jordan Honda (B) 1:19.903 + 1.269 12. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:20.202 + 1.568 13. Alesi Prost Acer (M) 1:20.741 + 2.107 14. Burti Prost Acer (M) 1:20.801 + 2.167 15. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:20.997 + 2.363 16. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:21.069 + 2.435 17. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:21.289 + 2.655 18. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 1:21.404 + 2.770 19. Alonso Minardi European (M) 1:21.493 + 2.859 20. Button Benetton Renault (M) 1:21.804 + 3.170 21. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:22.296 + 3.662 22. Marques Minardi European (M) 1:24.371 + 5.737 All Timing Unofficial