Saturday Second Free Practice - Spanish GP

The dominance of World Champions Ferrari continued at the Circuit de Catalunya as Brazilian Rubens Barrichello remained on top of the times at the end of the second of the Saturday morning practice sessions, before qualifying for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

The Italian team's rivals failed to beat Barrichello's time but Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld prevented a Ferrari one two by becoming the only man other than Barrichello to set a lap faster than last year's pole time to claim second.

In cooler conditions that seemed to suit the Bridgestone runners, the second Ferrari of Michael Schumacher made a late improvement to claim third and jump above Michelin runners David Coulthard and Jenson Button.

Button has targeted a top-five qualifying spot for Sunday's race, but he was defeated in the 'Battle of Britain' by Coulthard, who finished fourth for McLaren-Mercedes, one place ahead of his countryman.

German Heinz-Harald Frentzen made the most of the cool conditions and set sixth fastest time for Arrows, although he was more than eighth tenths of a second behind timesheet leader Barrichello.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen improved on his first session time but remained in seventh place in the second McLaren-Mercedes, just ahead of the second Sauber car of Brazilian Felipe Massa, who could not quite match the pace of his teammate Heidfeld.

Olivier Panis claimed ninth fastest time for British American Racing, with Enrique Bernoldi rounding out the top ten to set a positive mood in the Arrows garage in preparation for the qualifying session.

Less positive, however, were Jordan-Honda, who witnessed their new hard-driving Japanese driver Takuma Sato make another mistake and spin across the gravel at turn three. Sato, who has developed a reputation for crashing since he arrived in Formula One this year, damaged the nose of the Jordan when he crashed lightly, head-on into the tyre wall. He was also fined $750 for speeding in the pitlane.

Sato's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella brightened the hopes of the team, however, by finishing just outside the top ten in eleventh place, as the Williams-BMWs continued to struggle with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya claiming 12th and 14th respectively.

Pos Driver Team Times laps 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:18.048 218.173 km/h 17 2. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:18.144 + 0.096 22 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:18.226 + 0.178 17 4. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:18.386 + 0.338 17 5. Button Renault (M) 1:18.499 + 0.451 17 6. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:18.900 + 0.852 21 7. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:18.993 + 0.945 20 8. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:19.043 + 0.995 16 9. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:19.144 + 1.096 23 10. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:19.266 + 1.218 27 11. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:19.319 + 1.271 21 12. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:19.367 + 1.319 16 13. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:19.468 + 1.420 27 14. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:19.574 + 1.526 14 15. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:20.168 + 2.120 25 16. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:20.198 + 2.150 27 17. Trulli Renault (M) 1:20.484 + 2.436 24 18. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:20.799 + 2.751 26 19. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:20.963 + 2.915 11 20. Salo Toyota (M) 1:21.133 + 3.085 20 21. McNish Toyota (M) 1:21.219 + 3.171 14 22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:21.700 + 3.652 19 All Timing Unofficial