Warm-up: Ferrari back on top

As Williams technical director Patrick Head admitted after qualifying, Ferrari will be strongest in the race and the evidence backs up his prediction.

Schumacher lapped consistently faster than anyone else throughout the half-hour session, only for Barrichello to go quicker in the last minute. The Brazilian's final effort was half a second up on the world champion's best, while the third fastest driver, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, was a further four tenths off the pace.

Like Barrichello, Raikkonen set his time in the final moments of the session, edging out an impressive Takuma Sato who gave a little boost to Jordan by going fourth.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who will start on pole position ahead of the Ferraris in today's race, was only fifth fastest. His best time was over a second off Barrichello's benchmark.

The Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa were sixth and eighth, sandwiching Jacques Villeneuve's BAR. Massa ran off into the gravel at Priory at the end of the session.

David Coulthard was ninth after a troubled half-hour. The Scot's McLaren-Mercedes came into the pits trailing smoke caused by an engine failure and he was forced to wait while his team prepared the spare car. Coulthard returned to the track briefly in the final minutes.