Schumacher tops final practice - Imola

Ferrari's seven-time world champion lapped the Imola track in 1:23.787 - the fastest time of the weekend so far - to beat Spaniard Fernando Alonso by almost three tenths of a second.

Behind the pair, Alonso's Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was third quickest with Schumacher's Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa just six thousandths of a second slower than the Italian.

Japan's Yuji Ide was one of the first drivers to set a time, but he suffered an embarrassing spin at the newly re-profiled Variante Alta chicane.

The dirt that he pulled back on to the track caused problems for a number of drivers - not least for Ide himself - as the Super Aguri driver repeated the indiscretion 15 minutes later.

As a result of the slippery surface, nobody was able to beat the early benchmark time set by Ralf Schumacher until more than 20 minutes of the one-hour session had elapsed.

Once the times began to tumble, however, it was the Ferrari pair of Massa and then Schumacher who led the charge.

Schumacher's younger brother Ralf briefly looked like he could top the times in his Toyota, but he was pushed down to an eventual sixth behind the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen.

The other McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya failed to complete a flying lap in the session due to fuel pressure problems, and the Colombian remained in the garage.

Scuderia Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi was another to fall victim to Variante Alta, as he had a grassy moment and then a spin a lap later at the corner that has won praise from many of the drivers so far.

A much bigger accident befell Williams driver Nico Rosberg when the German got out-of-shape exiting the Villeneuve chicane, running over a kerb and slamming into the tyre barrier.

The accident caused major damage to the left-hand side of the car, giving the British team a lot of work to do in the two-hour gap before qualifying this afternoon.

In the final five minutes of the session, Liuzzi almost did the same as Rosberg, but the Italian kept going after a trip through the gravel, while Ide spun for a third time at Variante Alta.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:23.787           14
 2.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:24.068 + 0.281   15
 3.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:24.377 + 0.590   21
 4.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:24.383 + 0.596   17
 5.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:24.626 + 0.839   12
 6.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:24.667 + 0.880   21
 7.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:24.850 + 1.063   23
 8.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:24.916 + 1.129   13
 9.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:24.984 + 1.197   13
10.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:24.994 + 1.207   15
11.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:25.041 + 1.254   20
12.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:25.205 + 1.418   14
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:25.575 + 1.788   15
14.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:25.662 + 1.875   19
15.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:25.701 + 1.914    9
16.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:25.803 + 2.016   22
17.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:25.806 + 2.019   15
18.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:26.476 + 2.689   18
19.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:27.019 + 3.232   11
20.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:28.267 + 4.480   18
21.  Ide           Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:29.330 + 5.543   20
22.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)                      1

All Timing Unofficial