Warm-up: Barrichello on top

Barrichello lapped the testing 3.4-mile track in 1m39.611s, just over a tenth quicker than Schumacher. The reigning world champion had a brief flirtation with the grass late in the session, but recovered his composure to lap in 1m39.748s.

Coulthard left it late to leap to third, his 1m39.753s a matter of hundredths slower than Schumacher, and likewise just ahead of the improving Renault of Trulli, who led the times for most of the session. Nick Heidfeld was fifth fastest for Sauber-Petronas, a couple of tenths clear of Jenson Button in the second Renault.

Williams-BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya, who will start today's race from the front row alongside Schumacher, complained that his car felt nervous on full tanks: "When I change direction, the car jumps from side to side. We need to have a good think about it," he told his team from the cockpit.

Williams continues to have problems with heat build-up in their brakes too, and an extinguisher was required when there was a brief conflagration on Ralf Schumacher's car. Ralf had earlier spun, adding to the worries over Williams's race set-up, and was only ninth quickest.

Pedro de la Rosa cheered Jaguar's weekend slightly with the eighth quickest time, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen rounded out the top 10 in his Arrows-Cosworth.

The main absentee from the top 10 was McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, who only completed six laps and was just 19th fastest. BAR's Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis languished in 18th and 20th place respectively, Panis missing the final lap of the session when he failed to make it to the end of the pits when the chequered flag appeared.

For full warm-up results, click here.