The Finn had gallantly fought off challengers through the day’s opening session, however in the second run he was without competition.

His final time of 1:20.203 was enough to deliver the top position by three tenths of a second from his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya in a perfect result for McLaren.

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher continued to provide the British squad with some concern.

The seven times champion was again competitive and finished the session third fastest with a time of 1:20.773.

Ralf Schumacher was again fourth fastest, managing a best time of 1:20.903 in his Toyota.

The rest of the field were over a second off Raikkonen’s impressive benchmark time.

Jarno Trulli was the session’s only causality. The Italian appeared to suffer a technical problem as mid way through the session, on a flying lap, he pulled to the side of the circuit and stopped the car.