Giancarlo Fisichella set fastest time in his Renault with 1:14.466, just ahead of Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher on 1:14.603.

Third and fourth were the Championship rivals Kimi Raikkonen at McLaren (1:14.649) and Fernando Alonso (1:14.792) in the other Renault.

Just behind these two a resurgent Michael Schumacher highlighted his and Ferraris renewed Championship fight with 1:14.979, just quicker than the impressive Takuma Sato in the quickest of the two BAR Hondas on 1:15.177.

Rubens Barrichello finished seventh, a dissapointed Juan Pablo Montoya only eighth in the second McLaren, and Jenson Button ninth in the second BAR Honda.

Rounding off the top ten was Jarno Trulli, the Indianapolis pole-sitter eight tenths of second slower than his team mate Schumacher Jnr.

Behind them the Red Bull Racing cars finished 11th and 13th for David Coulthard and Christian Klien, while the Williams-BMW's failed to live up to the promise of their new aero-package in 12th, Mark Webber, and 15th for Nick Heidfeld.

The interest for the qualifying session is that the top ten were seperated by less than a second, and with Toyota's recent form and the apparent Ferrari revival, there are potentially five different makes of car capable of taking pole position.